Terrified Of Perfection
by ZaraShade
Summary: Perhaps she had blinded herself to it, perhaps she had known all along. Either way, Helen Magnus had been afraid, terrified, of what she was feeling for Nikola Tesla. But will his resurrection change that? Helen/Nikola, rated T to be safe  for later .
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this is set post-Awakening, and is Helen/Nikola. Because they're just too damn cute, and Helen needs to admit that she's madly in love with him too ;) **

**Enjoy! **

**ZS**

She was covered in dirt and grime and Lord-knows what else when they returned to the Sanctuary. They'd taken the chartered plane back straight from the private air-strip, with barely enough time to freshen up. Nikola had been so distracted by his re-vamping that he'd barely bugged her on the plane. It should have been welcome release, but it annoyed her more than it should have.

She spent the journey valiantly trying to ignore the pestering thoughts. She was all too aware of Nikola's presence beside her, the constant lengthening and retracting of his claws, as he experimented with his rebooted abilities.

She was trying not to think about what had happened down in the caves. She hadn't been able to stop the desperation flowing through her body, pushing her on, before re-vamping Nikola. The stark realisation of his mortality had hit her harder than any physical blow could have. It hadn't really sunk in until that moment, when he had been lying on the ground, blood seeping through his fingers. He was mortal. He wasn't invincible anymore.

Then when he had started talking like he had, it had ripped at her heart strings and had shattered the carefully constructed walls she'd erected so many years ago.

He had been so open, delirious, telling her more with his looks and subtly chosen words than blatant proclamations ever could.

She had been so stupid.

She had been so terrified of losing him in that moment. She had been more frightened that she had been for so long. The thought that she could actually lose him – her Nikola – had scared her so much. But, what scared her more, was that in itself.

To need someone that much was the thing that terrified Helen Magnus more than monsters, more than villains and more than her own mortality.

She had seen too many people she cared for die. They would leave her one after the other, through no fault of their own aside from remaining true to their human nature. She was the oddity, the ever-present soul.

She didn't want to admit to the feelings that had been coursing through her down in the caves. It was easier to deny them, ignore them. It was easier to push them to the back of her mind so that she wouldn't have to face them. If she pretended they didn't exist, then she could foolishly believe that perhaps she didn't need him as much as she did. Because loving someone with her entire being was Helen Magnus's greatest fear.

/|/|/

"Helen," Nikola said, as they entered the front door of her Sanctuary.

It was the dark of night, and her children would be asleep.

"Helen," he repeated, grabbing her arm. She turned abruptly, her eyes suddenly on fire with an inexplicable rage. He didn't know what he had done this time to incite such a reaction.

"What, Nikola?" she snapped, "You have your powers back, what more can you possibly want from me?"

He stood stuck for a moment. Is that what she really thought of him? He just hung around for that? Because he wanted her to find some way to get his powers back? They had been so close at Oxford, friends before John and the Five. There was a time when he'd thought that she may even love him too, and had wanted to ask her to marry him when he got the courage. He had even made her a ring himself.

But he had waited. Damn his foolish notions. He had waited and lost his chance with her, the only woman he had ever loved.

He had been poor, a foreigner with huge dreams and little means to achieve them with but his eccentric brilliant mind. He had wanted something to offer her besides half mad dreams of greatness and electricity. What a fool he had been. He had waited too long and Druitt had gotten her.

"Want from you, Helen?" he replied after the palpable pause. "Have you really become that cynical?"

"I'm tired Nikola," she sighed, "I'm in no mood to play your games. I'm going to shower and then go to bed. If you're not here in the morning, then goodbye, until you show up when you need something."

With that, she stalked off, wrenching her arm free of his grip. He barely noticed until she was already gone, staring at the spot she'd been standing.

Is that what she really thought of him? Had he really been that horrible that she thought he thought so little of their friendship? Did she not know that she was everything to him?

He had thought that she had seen beyond the mask. She had always known him better than anyone else ever had. She knew that most of his bravado was just a cover for the often-scared and unsure boy beneath. But she had cared for both the boy and the man. How could she, of all people, not see how much she meant to him?

He sighed where he stood.

Maybe she was better off without him. She didn't love him. She never had, not more than friends anyway, not in the ways he wanted. She had loved John (psychopath that he was) back then instead of him, what had foolishly possessed him to think this time would be any different?

If Helen wanted him gone, then he would go. As her love-sick protégé had said, he was a thorn in his Helen's side. Perhaps he always had been. Well, he wouldn't trouble her any longer.

**Don't hate me TESLEN shippers! This is a Helen/Nikola story after all. They're just both so stubborn. **


	2. Chapter 2

Helen awoke the next morning feeling an ache in her body, a result of the previous day's activities with Nikola and the vampire queen no doubt. She sighed and nuzzled into her pillow, revelling in the warmth and softness of it. At least she could pretend all her problems were gone for a blissful moment. But she couldn't ignore the guilt she was feeling over what she'd said to Nikola the previous day. Nor could she forget the deflated look on his face when she'd said them. He had been so excited about becoming a vampire again, and she had just gone and stuck the pin in the balloon of his joy. But she'd been conflicted in her own feelings and had lashed out at him. It was childish, she knew, but it had felt good in a twisted way at the time.

She opened her eyes a fraction and groaned. She should be getting up now. She had work to do. She'd find Nikola later and apologise.

Helen got up and went through her daily morning routine. She wondered if Nikola had managed to destroy any part of her Sanctuary yet in the night with his re-found vampiric abilities. He'd had them for over a century, so of course he was able to control them, but his glee and excitement as regaining those which were so precious could be potentially hazardous. She hadn't yet warned her employees either. She knew they only tolerated him because of her, though she suspected Henry had grown somewhat fond of Nikola, he seemed to look up to him.

Helen got to her office, surprised not to find Nikola skulking around anywhere ready to jump out at her. It didn't bode well. If he was really off sulking about what she'd said, then he had taken it to heart.

"Morning, Magnus," Big Guy said, placing a tray of scones and tea on her desk in front of her. She hadn't noticed him enter.

She smiled at him, wondering how much of the emotion she had been displaying on her face moments ago he had caught. From the look of concern on his visage, quite a bit it seemed.

"Good morning, old friend," she smiled. It was good to see him again, even if she'd only been gone a few days. "How is the Sanctuary? Should I be concerned?"

"Still standing," he said with a shrug, "What happened?" She sighed.

"A lot," she said, "I think, though, it will be easier if I tell everyone at once. Can you gather everyone and tell them to meet here in an hour?" He nodded, exiting the room.

Helen began working, not paying mind to Nikola or where he was. He would come out of whatever corner of the Sanctuary he was lurking soon enough.

Before she knew it, her employees had filed in for the staff meeting.

\|\|\

"Wait," Will said, trying to wrap his head around it one more time, "So Tesla, annoying-thorn-in-our-side-wants-to-take-over-the-world Nikola Tesla, is a vampire again? You re-vamped him?"

Helen sighed in frustration. Will was a good protégé, an asset to the Sanctuary, and a good friend. But sometimes he could be annoying.

She had explained what had happened briefly, skimming on several of the details. Such as her rather desperate display in smashing the vampire queen's cocoon with the rock in order to save Nikola.

"You sacrificed the map too, Doc?" Henry said.

"Alright," Helen said, standing, "The map was a necessary and unfortunate sacrifice. It was to prevent global enslavement." She couldn't help but add silently in her head it had also saved Nikola. "As for Nikola's re-vamping, I had no choice."

"You could have let him die," Will pointed out. Helen's eyes snapped to him.

"Is that really a choice, Dr Zimmerman?" she hissed, "Do you truly believe I should have let him die because he can be annoying sometimes?"

"I didn't mean it like that..." Will said, feeling guilty.

"I know that you don't like Nikola," she said, "But he is an old friend and quite frankly he's an asset to the Sanctuary. He is brilliant. It's not your prerogative to decide whether or not he lives here. Stop being childish."

There was palpable silence. Helen was furious. She'd snapped. She was sick of snide comments about Nikola. He may be annoying, yes, but they were acting childishly.

"Hey," Kate said, trying to break the silence, "If Vlad is back to being vamp-boy, then how come he's not rubbing our faces in it?"

They all looked at Helen. She'd been wondering why he hadn't emerged too, feeling something wrenching at her heart. She wanted to apologise for last night, tell him she hadn't really meant it. She knew he stuck around for more than just a chance to regain his powers.

"He's probably too distracted by his newly found powers," she said, hoping it was true.

"It makes me nervous," Kate shrugged. "Better to keep an eye on him, you know?"

Yes, Helen did know, and it made her nervous too.

\||\||\

By the end of the day, Nikola's absence was beginning to perturb her and make her anxious. She missed him, as much as she hated to admit it. She had expected him to be showing off to her with his powers. Though she rebuffed him most of the time, secretly she enjoyed watching the look of pure glee on his features. It was quite beautiful, really.

Helen went to Nikola's usual room, the one he'd claimed as his the first time he'd come to the Sanctuary and she had always referred to as 'his room' in her mind since then. It had a nice ledge on the window where he liked to leave crumbs for the pigeons.

It was empty, neat. Her heart instantly raced. It was too neat.

Nikola was usually neat to compulsion. But there always seemed to be an organised chaos surrounding him, notes and wires. But this, this was different.

She felt her heart racing so quickly as she walked over to the bed, where she had spotted a piece of paper laying innocently on the freshly made sheets.

'I've only ever wanted to give you what you want, so that is what I will do, my dear. I won't burden you with my presence any longer.  
>Nikola'<p>

Helen could feel tears forming in her eyes. It shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. But that didn't stop her from feeling like her heart was breaking. He was gone. He had left because he thought that's what she wanted, and she hated herself for letting him think that.

Yes, Helen had awoken that morning with an ache in her body. But what she hadn't been counting on was the aching feeling she now had in her heart.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you guys so much for your reviews! :D Have another chapter. :P**

Nikola watched the deep crimson liquid swirl majestically as he twisted the glass in his fingers. It was ironic, really. He'd spent so much time and effort trying to restore his rightful vampiric powers after his unfortunate little run in with those spoiled brats he'd turned into vampires, had been at his wits end. All he'd wanted was his powers back. He'd been fixated on it. Some part of him still believed that he wasn't good enough for Helen Magnus, just as he had thought then back in Oxford, but that being a vampire – descendant to the greatest – that he would be somehow more worthy of her.

But, now, all he wanted was to get completely drunk. That would have been no problem whatsoever when he'd been without his powers. But now that he had them back, the wine wasn't affecting him and he had no means of getting Helen off his mind.

He was sitting in a bar, as one does in such situations of self-pity and heart-ache, nursing his glass of wine. It was his only comfort now, his only companion in his now-immortal life. The life he'd intended, no craved, to share with Helen.

This was his third bar of the night. He had to keep moving, else the bartenders get suspicious of the absent affects of copious amounts of alcohol. He should move again, the bartender was beginning to eye him.

Nikola raised the glass to his lips and knocked back the remainder of the wine. As pathetic as it was (and he really wished he could claim to be drunk now because of it) he couldn't help but notice that this wine didn't taste as sweet as the wine from Helen's cellar. It wasn't wine from _home_. He hated himself for even thinking such sappy thoughts.

He stood up, leaving a crisp bill on the table to cover the cost of his drinks (and then some). But he felt a hand clap his shoulder, he turned ready to 'vamp-up' if he had to, to see a tall dark-haired man with glasses.

"Why don't you let me buy you another one?" the man said, "You look like you need it."

Nikola was about to open his mouth to protest, to shake this annoying man off, but he felt a strange dizziness come over him. He tried to speak but no words would come and his head was pounding so hard it made it hard to think. He couldn't use his powers. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the man's malicious grin.

Oh, this was definitely not good.

\|\|\

"Where the bloody hell could he be?"

Helen was in danger of wearing a hole in the floorboards of her office if she didn't stop pacing soon. The fury with which she did so was making Henry's head spin as he watched the Doc. He was beginning to feel a bit helpless. She was scary when she was like this. Will, who was sitting on the couch's arm-rest, was watching her more calmly. But he seemed agitated. He certainly didn't approve of Magnus's fierce determination to find Tesla.

"I've checked all around with my contacts," she said, "None of them have seen him. He can't have just disappeared!"

She didn't want him to have. Truthfully, he could probably have disappeared had he wanted to. But that was what scared her. He had done it for sixty years after all, managing to stay out of sight and fade away. The thought that he had done it again was far too terrifying to think about, almost as much as confronting the reasons why.

"Magnus," Will said, "Maybe he just doesn't want to be found. He's done it before. He's probably just off in some corner drinking wine and plotting his next world take over – which we will have to clean up after by the way."

Helen shot him a dirty look but didn't comment. She was far too worried about Nikola to deal with whatever the hell Will was going through in regards to the vampire.

"You should calm down, Magnus," Will said, "Why do you care so much about him anyway?" He added bitterly.

"Because he's hurt and it's my fault!" she blurted. "He is a part of this team whether you like it or not. This is his _home_ now, and I sent him away in a moment of stupidity."

"What happened between the two of you, Magnus?" Will said.

She stared at him but didn't reply. She couldn't tell Will what she'd been feeling, what she'd been so selfishly scared of that she'd hurt Nikola instead of facing up to it. He thought that she hated him. She had to find him and set him straight. Tell him he was welcome here, wanted here. Even if he didn't want to be around her anymore for what she'd said.

It was sometimes easy to forget that Nikola was really quite sensitive beneath his facade of callousness and melodrama.

"Nothing, Will," she said, dismissively. Will gave her a sceptical look. "Shouldn't you two be doing some work?"

Henry and Will looked like they wanted to protest, but her face left no room for argument. They got up and left, leaving their boss with a dangerously determined look.

So help her she was going to find him. She wasn't going to let him slip away for another sixty years without him knowing how she felt. She was going to trace him down to whatever seedy bar or five star hotel he was in, in whatever corner of the world, and she was going to tell the annoying infuriating vampire that she loved him.

She stopped in her pacing in shock. She hadn't realised she'd thought it until she had. She loved him. Lord help her, she was madly, passionately, hopelessly in love with one of the most infuriating men on the planet.

**I don't know where all the angst is coming from! At least Helen has finally realised. ;) **


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you so much to everyone who's been reviewing! You guys make me smile. :D **

**Magnus get's a bit hardcore in this, but it's because she loves Niko. :P **

**ZS**

The sound of a constant dripping was the first thing he noticed when he came to. In his confusion and daze he almost let himself believe it was the sound of the rain pelting onto the windowpane of his room at the Sanctuary. That would mean he could still see Helen. But the smell hit next. It was something chemical, the aroma of experimentation, clean and sharp and sterile. Unless he had somehow fallen asleep in Helen's lab, and this had all been a dream (in which case he wouldn't have his vampiric sense of hearing and smell) he was definitely not at the Sanctuary.

He tried opening his eyes but found that his lids were heavy, and his vision sluggish when he did manage to open them. He tried to move his arms but he was tied down. He struggled to break free but the bonds were strong. They must be made of a special material specifically catering to his kind of strength. That meant that wherever he was, it was probably worse than he'd initially thought. They'd clearly put a lot of thought into this, and that couldn't be good.

As his sight slowly came back to him, he took in his surroundings.

Nikola was strapped down tightly (they weren't taking any chances obviously) to a laid back chair not unlike one that could be found in a dentist's office. But he was definitely not just here for a simple fang clean.

From what he could tell, he was in a lab of some sort. The far wall had a long white bench lined with beakers, test-tubes and various other instruments. The walls were white and there was nothing else in the room beside for his chair and the bench, which was too far for him to get to. Obviously whoever had put him in here wasn't taking any chances with him. They must know of his powers. This wasn't random.

They were prepared. So what did they want? Why had they set this all up?

Nikola got the feeling he wasn't going to have to wait very long. The only problem was, did he really want to know?

The question occurred to him too, how had they found him? He had only left the Sanctuary a day ago, unless he'd been unconscious for longer than that. Had they followed him from the Sanctuary? If so, was Helen in any danger? That thought made him forget all about his own predicament. His heart lurched. What if they already had her? The thought made his stomach churn. They couldn't have her, not his Helen. She had to be safe. She was back at her Sanctuary, none the wiser to his predicament, safe and hating him. Yes, that was how it should be.

\|\|\

Helen was far too restless for her own liking. For most of her life, she had prided herself on her ability to remain calm and collected in dire situations. It came with her profession. Not to mention her need to be stoic being a female doctor in a time where it just wasn't fathomed. But right now, the ease with which she descended into a frantic state astonished her. How could this man cause her to turn to a dizzy mess?

It was about time she took this into her own hands. Helen grabbed the gun she kept tucked nicely in her top draw of her office, one of her personal favourites, and tucked it in her coat. The joy of being your own boss meant you could disappear without warning. She sent a quick message to an old contact.

She chose a discreet non-descript black car from the garage to use and left the Sanctuary. Henry and the others would check the footage later when they wondered where she was, and would know she was safe enough. Henry and Big Guy had learnt not to question her when she took off like this if she needed. She often had meetings with contacts, or old friends, that she didn't share. Will would be more bothered by it, but she trusted he would handle himself and the Sanctuary while she was gone. She didn't plan on being gone too long, only until she found Nikola anyway. She wasn't going to be able to rest until she at least knew he was safe.

\|\||

The bar-lounge wasn't packed, nor was it empty. People came here seeking information, seeking a discreet place to do business. It was a place she was sure Kate would know, but one that none of the others at the Sanctuary would have expected Helen Magnus to. She used it when she had to. The up-side to the smoky air and dark lighting was that, it not only protected the seedier patrons from being identified or recognised, but also herself.

She sat, waiting for her contact to appear. He did so, predictably, moments later.

He was a middle aged man. He was average looking, useful for not being memorable. He didn't have one exact 'profession', but was known for discretion. He wasn't a huge threat either, not really having the courage to get involved in any large or dangerous ops. He usually defected to the person who paid the most. Her advantage was that he was afraid of her, terrified even. Ten years ago he'd witnessed her take down a rather large abnormal trading cell he'd been giving intelligence to. She and her people had done a good job of disintegrating the cell, and since then he'd become somewhat afraid of the Sanctuary leader. It may have something to do with her personal involvement in the physical take-down. She may be a woman of the Victorian era, but she knew how to handle weaponry.

"Long time so see," he half-grinned at her.

"This isn't a social call, Jim," she said, making sure her face remained a mask of stone. His smile faltered.

"No small talk then, eh, Magnus?" he said, she remained silent, staring at him, "You want information on your vampire friend? I gotta say, a heap of 'em people would pay a mighty sum for a chunk of him."

She knew Nikola was a pain at the best of times. He had the ability to rub people the wrong way. He also had great power, and was brilliant. He was either a sought after asset, or a sought after threat. She could wring his neck sometimes, would he ever learn to play nicely?

"Talk, Jim," she said. He knew more than he was telling. He looked around nervously.

"Look, Magnus," he said, "I'm here at my own personal risk, alright." She smirked.

"Need I remind you, Jim," she said, "I have more than enough reason to believe that your dealings aren't exactly straight. I turn a blind eye, mostly because what you deal in is petty theft. However, I am also aware you have a lot of knowledge on the goings on. I want to know what you're not telling me about Nikola."

He smirked.

"The worst thing those folks can do is underestimate the great Helen Magnus," he said.

"It's the last thing many of them do," she replied smoothly, more just to see the fear flash in his eyes. The more afraid of her he was, the more likely he'd share his information.

"Look," he said, "There's some group, some research group, they've been asking around a lot for your pesky friend. They're pretty keen on finding him."

"Name," she said.

"I don't know, Magnus," he said, "I really don't. I'm not on the inside anymore, you know that. I try to keep as clean as I can. That's all I heard. They don't go telling the likes of me their business, you know? But from what I have heard, you'd better warn your friend, because from the sounds of it, they're the nasty kind."

Helen couldn't help but gulp silently, her heart racing. So Nikola was in danger. She hoped that he was smart enough to stay well hidden and not be reckless in his sulking. She had to find him. She had to find him before they, whoever they were, did.

"If you hear anything more on it," she said, standing, "Call me right away." He nodded. "To keeping straight." She said, laying a few bills on the table.

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Helen had barely entered her office, laying her gun on the table, when Will came in.

"Where have you been?" he said.

Her patience was wearing thin, especially in her heightened fear for Nikola now with Jim's information. She slammed the gun on top of the desk.

"Last time I checked, Dr Zimmerman," she said, "I didn't have to check in with you."

"You're concerned, and emotional," he said, "You could be reckless."

"What I need," she said, "If for you to trust me. I've been doing this a lot longer than you have, a lot longer than you've been alive for. I can handle myself."

He sighed.

"Will," she said, "You should focus more of your energy on completely your paper work and less on worrying about me."

She turned, walking around to sit at her desk. He sighed and left her.

Helen was even more determined than before to find Nikola knowing someone else was after him. He probably didn't even realise it. It had only been two days since she'd last seen him, and he was already in grave danger. But he was Nikola Tesla after all, and 'dull' didn't seem to be a word in his vocabulary.

**Not sure why I seem to constantly be Will bashing in this... subconscious desire maybe? :P **


	5. Chapter 5

Nikola was focusing intently on the binds holding him strapped to the eerie slab. He was trying to deduce what kind of material they were made of so that he could better garner how to extricate himself. He sighed, letting out a low growl, obviously whoever had him here wouldn't make it that easy. Still, he didn't want to be a sitting duck, nor did he like letting them keep the upper hand. He should have swallowed his damn pride and stayed at the Sanctuary. If not for his own safety then at least so that he was sure Helen would be safe.

The sound of metal grinding against metal stopped his thoughts as he lay still, waiting. It was the door at the far side of the unsettling lab opening. He strained his neck to try and see who was coming inside. From his vantage point he could see two men had come in, but couldn't see their faces. They wore white lab coats and one held a clip board in ill-tended nailed hands. So he was trapped in a lab at the mercy of crazy people _and _they had bad hygiene. Perfect.

The one without the clipboard came closer to him. As he did so, Nikola could see his face. He was a man who looked to be in his fifties perhaps with neatly trimmed grey hair and a prim grey moustache that looked as though it was regularly combed with fastidious perfectionism. The man had dark eyes that drank Nikola in eagerly, which made him nervous. The man grinned, a wolfish smile.

"Mr Tesla," he said, still smiling unsettlingly. He had a British accent. "How nice of you to join us here at our humble laboratory." What was this man's game? Crack-pots, the lot of them, they must be.

"I didn't exactly have a choice," Nikola bit back. He was thoroughly uncomfortable with the look of glee on the man's features. The man chuckled.

"Ah, but I should like to think we would have got on famously in any other circumstance, Mr Tesla," the man. "One scientist to another and all that? I respect your work immensely."

"Well then why don't you let my arms go and we can have a nice chat about it?" Nikola said sarcastically.

He was trying to see what the other man was doing – by now he could see he was much younger than this one – but he was tinkering about with the equipment on the benches.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," he said.

"What do you want with me?" Nikola said. He was sick of whatever sick game this guy was playing.

"We mustn't ruin a good surprise now," the man said, patting Nikola's restrained hand. Nikola resisted the urge for his claws to grow. By the looks of it, it would only get this whacko more excited. "But perhaps when your lovely friend joins us."

A wave of fear struck Nikola at that. He had the feeling the man meant Helen, after all, who else could he mean? But he also got the feeling the man knew exactly what reaction that would draw from the vampire.

"Helen?" Nikola said unable to mask the fear and anger in his voice.

"Oh yes," the man said, "We're going to have quite the party once Dr Magnus arrives."

"What are you going to do with Helen?" Nikola shouted, struggling in his bonds once more. He had to get free. He had to warn Helen.

The man grinned.

"You won't get her!" Nikola glared, still struggling, "She's not just going to go with you."

"Oh, but she will, Mr Tesla," the man said with a confidence that sent a shiver down Nikola's spine, "You're going to bring us Helen Magnus. Then the fun truly begins."

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Helen was sitting on her desk wringing her hands deciding her next move. She could try and get some work done and hope Nikola had the good sense to remain hidden, or return to the Sanctuary. That thought was quashed as quickly as it had sprung up. She wouldn't sit idly by when Nikola could be in serious danger. As she was deliberating, Kate came into the office.

"Hey, Magnus," she said, "Some guy named Jim called."

Her head shot up and she fixed her employee with a fierce gaze. She'd not been back ten minutes and Jim had already called?

"What did he say?" she said quickly. She stood and crossed the room in a few quick strides to where Kate stood.

"Something about one of his contacts seeing Vlad," Kate said.

"What else? What exactly?" Helen pressed.

"He said he was in a bar," Kate said, "The bartender said he was in a pretty bad state. He had to practically be carried out by some guy he was with, drunk, he'd had enough wine to knock out an elephant."

Helen nodded sadly, knowing it was because of her he'd been driven to such a state. But then it clicked. Nikola drunk? A few days ago, perhaps, but not now. Not with his vampiric powers back.

"Do you know who this man his was with is?" Helen said, urgently. Kate frowned.

"It's probably just some guy Vlad has gotten roped in with or something," she shrugged, "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal," Helen said, "Is Nikola doesn't do drinking with others."

"He drank with you before," Kate pointed out.

That had been something she'd noticed a long time ago too, but had never really given it much thought. It had been natural to drink with him. Apparently for him too, but she'd never really given much thought to the fact that Nikola didn't drink with others. It wasn't like Nikola was big into doing anything with others, he didn't play nice with others in general. It had always been like that.

Helen ignored Kate's comment though.

"It may have been enough wine to knock out an elephant," Helen said, "But not a vampire. Kate, he can't have been drunk. He can't have been affected by the alcohol. It must have been something else, and I believe this person, whoever he was with, has something to do with it. I need to know who it is."

"On it," Kate nodded.

Usually, she'd make some sort of comment on her boss's desperation. But she sensed it wasn't the wisest idea, and Kate did have a sense of self preservation after all. She'd been able to sense something between Magnus and Vlad since she'd first seen them together, and had always wondered. Even if the boys were too blind to see it, she could.

Helen watched Kate go and immediately re-attached her gun to her hip. She'd be damned if she'd let anyone harm Nikola. She'd only just got him back into her life herself and realised her feelings for him. She sure as hell wasn't going to give up on the fool now. They were in for a hell of a fight.

**No Will bashing, wow (mainly because Will didn't feature in the chapter...small details). :P**


	6. Chapter 6

**I apologise most sincerely for the wait! Have some Tesla shaped cookies as a peace offering. :P (You don't have to eat them, you can turn them into shrines of our favourite vampire if you like). **

**Anyway, I shall desist my ramblings and, with a dramatic flourish, present to you the next chapter! **

Nikola's heart was pounding so hard he thought his captors may actually hear him. By the look of the lunatic who seemed in charge – at least in the lab – he probably could. He was taking great pleasure in Nikola's agitation ever since their little chat about a certain dark haired blue eyed doctor, and it unsettled Nikola even more. It made him shudder to think what the man would do once he had Helen within his grasp, just to see how it would affect Nikola most probably.

He watched in annoyance as the man and his assistant – or who he assumed was his assistant as that was what he was doing, assisting – tinkered about with the beakers. It was driving him mad that they had not done much yet. So far, they had simply drawn some blood and shot him with a few bursts of electric current. It was nothing that Helen herself wouldn't do to him, which just made him even more anxious. What were they waiting for?

"Hey," Nikola said, finally growing tired of this. He was Nikola Tesla, after all, and he liked to be the centre of attention, even in captivity.

The older man turned to look over at the vampire currently strapped down in the chair in amusement.

"Yes?" he said with maddening calmness.

"Care to share what you're doing over there?" Nikola said, lamely. He hadn't actually expected them to pay him much attention.

The man, as predicted, turned back to what he had been doing. The assistant turned to give Nikola a fearful look. Interesting. So junior over there was afraid of him? He could most definitely work with that.

Nikola had to get out of here. He had to warn Helen. Now that was settled, all he had to do was formulate a plan.

\|\\|

"Magnus -," Will said, coming into his boss's office, Kate and Henry trailing behind him.

He stopped abruptly, causing his colleagues to bump comically into him from behind. Kate grumbled under her breath what he was sure was not child friendly protestation.

"Dude!" Henry said, picking up the tablet he'd dropped on the floor.

"Sorry," Will sighed.

He looked around the office. Magnus was not there.

"Where's the boss?" Kate frowned. "She was here like twenty minutes ago."

"She hasn't left again, has she?" Henry groaned, "I hate it when she does that."

"Henry can you -," Will said.

"Bring up the security footage?" Henry predicted, "Yeah, I'm on it." He walked over to Magnus's computers and started tapping at the keys as Kate and Will came over.

The three watched as Henry brought up the footage from approximately twenty minutes ago, to where Kate was leaving Magnus's office. They watched Magnus strap her gun to her hip with a look of fierce determination on her face. She made a phone call, before walking out. Henry followed her path and, sure enough, she'd gone down to the garage.

"She can't have gone that far," Kate said. Will was already dialling Magnus's number. They all jumped slightly as they heard ringing and looked over to their boss's desk, where her phone lay discarded.

"Aw, come on man!" Henry said.

"I can't believe she's just gone out without her phone and not telling us where she is!" Will fumed, "All to save _Tesla_! The guy is a jerk, and yet she still goes to whatever lengths to save his ass!"

Kate eyed him curiously.

"That's what's bothering you?" she said, "It's not that the Doc is rushing about on her own, it's because of who she's doing it for!"

"That's ridiculous, Kate," Will said, flustered. Kate smirked.

\||\\

Helen drove quickly to the bar where Nikola had been acting 'drunk'. She was mildly surprised she hadn't been pulled over by the local law enforcement; not that she couldn't have gotten out of that regardless. She parked roughly outside of the bar with a screech of tires on concrete and jumped out of the car.

Pushing the door open, she strode in. It was near empty, and the bartender was cleaning glasses with a rag. The few patrons looked up curiously at the brunette who had walked in with a look of purpose.

She made a beeline to the bar.

"Now, you look like you're on a mission," the bartender chuckled. Helen wasn't amused.

"Have you seen this man?" she said, producing a photo of Nikola – she hadn't been able to resist snapping it of him on her phone a few weeks ago. He'd been utterly adorable in his confusion about some new artefact they'd brought back and was glaring at it as if it was responsible for some great offence.

The barman nodded.

"Yep, a night or two back," he said. "I had some other guy in here wanting to know about him too. What's he done, then? Does he owe a lot of people money or something?" Helen ignored him, focused on getting as much information on Nikola as possible. She needed something to go on.

"You said he was in a bad state?" she continued. "He was drunk?"

"Oh yeah," the barman chuckled, "I wasn't surprised, he'd knocked back an impressive amount too."

"What about the man he left with?" Helen pushed.

"Oh, yeah, some guy was helping him out, poor sucker could barely stand by himself," the barman said. Someone must have put something in Nikola's drink. He couldn't have been drunk as a vampire. Damnit, why couldn't he stay out of trouble for long enough for her to kiss him senseless for being such a fool!

"The man he left with, can you describe him," Helen said, urgency creeping into her voice. The barman narrowed his eyes.

"Look lady," he said, "I don't know what it is that makes this guys so important to find, but I told you what I saw."

"Would this help jog your memory?" Helen said, throwing down a few bills on the bar. The barman slid them over to himself slowly.

"The guy was tall," he said, "Dark hair, glasses." Helen could have crawled across the bar and shook the man.

"Anything else?" she said, "_Anything_ distinct?" The barman chuckled softly.

"This guy you're looking for, pretty important, huh?" he said.

Helen let out a low growl. Later, she would blame it on the frustration and her worry for Nikola. It reminded her of her desperation back in the tombs when she'd smashed the rock into the amber-esque cocoon. She pulled out her gun, pointing it at the barman, and leant across the bar with narrowed eyes. The amusement immediately drained from his replaced by fear.

"I'm not in the mood to play games," she hissed.

"He had a tattoo," the barman said, quickly, eyeing the gun pointed at him. Helen cocked it menacingly, indicating he should go on. "It was that one, you know the thing where the snake is eating its own tail? On his neck."

"Ouroboros," Helen uttered, lowering her weapon thoughtfully.

"Yeah, see? That's all I know!" the barman said.

Helen glared at him, but replaced her weapon at her hip.


	7. Chapter 7

**And I'm back again, with more Tesla-shaped cookies just for the fun of it. ;)  
>It gets a bit dramatic now, so hold onto your Victorian-Era-hats ;) <strong>

**Enjoy!**

Helen was just leaving the bar with a heavy feeling. The tattoo would certainly make things easier, at least she had something to go on. But, really, it could mean anything. What was she to do? Make a search in the police and agency databases for criminals with snake tattoos? She scoffed out loud to herself. That was to say if he even was a criminal. He could just be a Good Samaritan who had been helping what appeared to be a very drunk man. She didn't believe that for as long as it took to finish the thought.

But there was something oddly familiar about the mention of an Ouroboros tattoo, and she couldn't tell whether it was because it was a fairly common symbol – one she might run into in her line of work – or something else. But there was still a feeling nagging at her.

She stood out at the side of the bar, feeling more lost than she had in a long time. She tracked abnormals all the time, why was it that now, when she needed to find one more than ever, she couldn't?

That damn man was really starting to get on her nerves! How was it that, even when he wasn't around, Nikola could manage to get under her skin and irk her in the most effective ways?

"Where are you, Nikola?" she hissed out to the evening air. She shook her head as she leant against her car. "You always did know just how to get to me with such perfection you almost made it into an art." She smiled sadly. "Just when I realised how much I need you, you go getting yourself into trouble again. Keeping me on my toes...why is it that I always have to save your -"

She trailed off.

"I always have to save you," she said, eyes widening. "No, it can't be..."

It couldn't be. She was just being paranoid. Her fear of losing Nikola was making her become irrational. The man she was thinking of was long gone.

\||\\

_London, 1887 _

_Helen exchanged a look with James, the man looked grim beyond description. It did not do well to comfort her. They stood at the benches in one of their labs, running tests on samples of Nikola's freshly procured blood. _

"_I'm afraid we're quite out of our depth here, Helen," James conceded with a sigh, after once again peering into a microscope with a morose expression. _

_It had to be glum for James Watson, of all people, to admit to that. Helen tried to quell the rising sense of panic within her._

"_Nonsense, James," she tried to keep her tone light, as much to convince herself as it was to convince her friend. "We just have to keep trying. We have to think outside of the box."_

"_We have been trying, and thinking outside of the box, Helen," James said, rubbing his face with the back of his hand. "I just don't know what more we can do."_

"_We can't give up, James!" Helen said. She hated the hint of desperation that leaked into her tone. He had noticed it, she knew, but chose not to comment on it. "Nikola needs us!"_

"_Helen, we all knew that taking the Blood was a huge risk," James sighed, trying to talk her round, "Nikola knew that. We all accepted it, whatever should happen."_

"_That doesn't mean we give up," Helen ground out, with a well aimed glare._

_She turned her attention back to the bench and her experiments. She would find a way to help her friend if it was the last thing she did. If she had to live in the lab until she did then so be it. _

_It had been months since they'd taken the Blood, and yet something had started to happen to Nikola that none of them could explain. The rest of them had begun to experiment and explore their powers – well, Helen was beginning to understand the gravity of her own recently discovered power. But Nikola's had taken a bizarre and rather frightening turn. _

_His transformation had been undoubtedly the most dramatic of all of them to begin with. He had turned into a vampire after all, the blood unlocking dormant vampire genes. _

_At first, after the initial rather brutal transformation process, he had been fine. Helen had developed a serum to curb his blood-lust and he was as arrogant and obnoxious as always. But then he had fallen – for lack of better word – ill. He had been growing weaker, his body going frail, and his eyes growing ever dimmer. None of the usual remedies they would prescribe to a human worked, nor any of her father's abnormal concoctions. They just couldn't explain his ailment. _

_Helen had been working tirelessly to come up with an answer, with the help of the others. None of them could drag her away from the lab for extended periods of time, and James was growing concerned. John in particular had been irritant of late, he seemed annoyed at the level of devotion she had to curing Nikola._

_But Nikola was her friend, and he trusted her. She had to find a way to help him. Not only that, but she felt responsible. It had been her pushing that had urged the reluctant Serb to take the blood in the first place. She was sure, now more than ever, that he had only taken it because she had, and the guilt was eating away at her. She had condemned her dearest friend to death. _

"_Helen," James touched her shoulder gently and she jumped, she'd been thinking. "At least get some rest. You're of no use if you can't even think straight because you're wearing yourself down."_

_Helen sighed, knowing he was right. She needed some rest if she was to figure this out. _

"_Alright," she conceded, "But then I'm coming back here!"_

_James nodded, indulging her. As much as he wanted to help Tesla, he hated to see Helen wear herself into a state of such panic. She was becoming more erratic, and even their dear Helen had a limit. _

_Helen left James to go upstairs to her room. James himself went into her father's study, probably to alert Gregory that he'd finally managed to drag Helen away for some much needed rest. _

" – _no good," Helen heard her father's voice as she passed the door. She paused. _

"_I just don't see what else we can do," James was saying._

"_I doubt if there is anything we can do," Gregory sighed. "Helen, stubborn as ever, just won't see it."_

"_But what of Tesla?" James said. "I mean, could this...ailment, blow over on its own?"_

"_I've been talking to some of my contacts to do with abnormals," Gregory said. "There are some people who are rumoured to have knowledge on the ancient vampires."_

"_So if this is some ancient vampire ailment, they would know?" James said, "They could help him?"_

"_I do not know," Gregory sighed, "It could be it's just a rumour, or they're trying to get something. Whatever they do know, in all likelihood they wouldn't be able to help Tesla anyway."_

"_But is it not worth a try?" James said, and Helen silently from her position outside, had to agree. _

"_The kind of people I'm talking about," Gregory said, "are not the kind of people you want to make dealings with. They would double cross you at any chance given, would rip you off, and would never do anything without something in return. Often, what they want is something you would never give – that is, the cost is far greater."_

"_Far greater than the chance to save Tesla's life?" James said._

"_I fear so," Gregory said, "They would want a hefty prize. That is, if they could even help, which I doubt they could. We'll find another way to help the lad, James. One that doesn't involve selling our souls."_

"_Have you told Helen?" James said._

"_No," Gregory said, "I fear her attachment to the man would cloud her on this. I do not wish her to do something she would later regret, you know how Helen is. I am not willing to risk her for him."_

_Helen could feel anger swelling up within her. How could her father turn down a chance to help Nikola? Even if it was a very slim one, it was a chance! What price would be worse than saving Nikola? She was sure she would be willing to pay. But the way her father spoke of it made it sound downright foolish. _

_She went upstairs thoughtfully. Even if it was risky to seek help from these people, could she live with herself knowing she had turned down a chance to save Nikola's life? This was her Nikola – her awkward, brilliant, often obnoxious Nikola. Her Nikola who had put his life in her hands with implicit trust when he had injected ancient vampire blood into his veins. He had done so knowing he could trust Helen with everything so thoroughly, and if there was one thing she knew, it was that Nikola knew her better than anyone. She had to try. _

_Helen stood in the doorway to Nikola's makeshift room, watching as he tossed and turned in a fitful feverish sleep. He looked so small, so innocent and so helpless. She couldn't stand the thought of losing him, of spending eternity without her friend beside her. _

_|\\\|_

_Helen had waited until her father and James had retired for the night before slipping out. She'd found, upon some rifling through his desk, the information she'd been looking for that Gregory had been talking to James about earlier. How could he keep this from her? Even if he was trying to protect her, she hated that he didn't trust her to make her own choices. It was her right to do so if she pleased, was it not?_

_She had been surprised with the swiftness to which she had received a response, all she'd had to do was make a few discreet and well worded queries to the right people and she was being shown to a meeting place. _

_It was an average looking pub in a nondescript location, where she was escorted up to a room. She got the feeling that several of their associates – whoever they were – were strategically placed in the bar below from the looks they'd given each other, and she couldn't help but feel trapped. Had it been such a good idea coming here after all? She was at their mercy now, alone and armed only with her pistol._

_She kept reminding herself why she was here. This was for Nikola. He would do the same for her, she knew it. _

_She was told by her burly escort to wait outside in the corridor, as if she had any choice but to obey at this point, as he went inside the room. He emerged a few minutes later, leaving the door open. Helen made a move to enter but he stopped her, holding out his hand._

"_Your gun," he grunted._

_Helen fingered the weapon. It would be foolish beyond foolishness to go inside without her gun. But, then again, what use was her gun when she was vastly outnumbered anyway? What was one more act of fool's desperation tonight? She reluctantly handed it over to the burly guard._

_She walked inside the room. It was dark, the curtains were drawn, blocking out any light from the stars that would dare illuminate the room. There were two men sitting at a small table near the bed who were counting something, a foreign currency as far as she could see. But the man who she was obviously here to see was seated at a table in the open space at the side of the room. There were another two guards lingering menacingly not too far behind him. She really was beginning to question her own sanity in coming here. The both of them were at least John's height, with muscles to match, and beady eager looking eyes at they took in the sight of her. _

_She walked slowly over to the man, and he smiled. It was the kind of smile that did nothing to reassure, but everything to make you uncomfortable and fill you with a sense of dread. _

"_Dr Magnus, how good of you to join us," he said, "Please, have a seat. I have heard about your friend's condition," upon her suspicious expression he added, "We have our ways, Ms Magnus. I do believe there is something I have that could help. Now, shall we discuss business?" _

_He was direct, had come straight to it. Neither of them were here to discuss pleasantries, obviously. She appreciated that at the very least with nerves on fire. _

_As she sat, Helen's eyes flickered to the wrist he had gestured to one of his cronies with. On it was an inked tattoo of the Ouroboros symbol, the snake eating its own tail. _

**The plot thickens! **


	8. Chapter 8

Helen Magnus did often take to feeling quite this ill – no, not ill, nauseous was the word. She just knew instantly that Nikola was in this man's hands, it was so bloody glaringly obvious now. He must be enjoying this, knowing how it would make her react. He had seen how desperate she had been to save Nikola the first time, so he had struck her with a perfect blow this time. Bloody bastard.

She sucked in a breath of air angrily, just as an elderly couple walked past and eyed her with curious concern.

God she was going to kill that man! Then she was going to kill Nikola for being stupid enough to let himself be captured by them! Then she was going to bring him back to life, he was a vampire after all, and kiss him senseless. She paused in her silent tirade. Since when had kissing Nikola senseless started entering her thoughts with such frequency? She really was going crazy.

She knew if Nikola were here, some lewd remark about her fantasizing about dominatrix role playing with him would be thrown into the air. As much as they annoyed her, she also missed him and his constant flow of lewd remarks. The not-so-lewd silence was beginning to get to her.

Helen needed to call the Sanctuary, she had to check something. But after searching for her phone, she realised she didn't have it. She cursed silently. Of course she would leave her phone at the very place she wanted to call.

She eyed the couple who had walked past moments ago with a gleam in her eye and plastered on her best convincing 'worried smile'.

"Excuse me?" she said, sweetly, to the couple.

The man and woman turned to look at the younger dark-haired British woman. She seemed awfully worried.

"Yes, dear?" the woman said.

"I am terribly sorry to bother you," Helen started, "But my car has broken down, you see, I don't have my phone... I'm in such a state! I was wondering if I could borrow a phone to make a quick call?"

She finished with a wide-eyed look – one similar to the ones she'd so often thrown at James, when she'd wanted to work just that bit longer into the night.

"Oh, of course, dear," the woman said, she nudged her husband, "Gerald, give the nice young lady your phone to use." Gerald grunted, but produced a mobile – albeit a somewhat outdated one. It would serve her purpose.

"Thank you so much," Helen said, taking the phone from the man. She took a few discreet steps toward her car – not enough to cause alarm, but enough to look casual as though she were checking the damage to the car – so she could talk in a bit more privacy.

The phone was picked up after three rings.

"Will -," she said.

"_Magnus? Oh thank God you're okay! We were worried when -," _Will's voice said over the line. He sounded genuinely relieved. What did they think she was doing? Did they not realise she was perfectly capable on her own? Or was it more how reckless she became when it came to people she loved. She could kill Will for his observations sometimes.

"Will," she snapped, perhaps a little too harshly, but she was in a hurry, "I need you to look something up for me, alright?"

"_Okay, tell me where you are and - ," _Will said, but Magnus cut him off with an irritated sigh.

"No, I need you to look it up _now_, William," she said, in a clipped tone, "Find me a pub by the name of 'The Dragon's Tail' in the city."

Her tone left no room for argument, or further enquiry. Will sighed, saying the name of the pub to Henry who was at his computer. Henry tapped at some keys before producing a location, which Will repeated to Magnus.

Helen nodded absently, forgetting they couldn't see her. She hung up on Will as he started to say something else. Over at the Sanctuary, Will stared at the phone for a few seconds and then sighed. He should have known she would hang up on him after he'd told her the address. On the up side, at least they knew where she was going now.

\\|||

"Okay, everyone, let's gear up," Will said, "We have no idea what Magnus is doing, but she clearly isn't thinking straight."

"Maybe she just wants to grab a nice drink at the pub?" Kate said. Will and Henry both shot her a look. "Okay, so probably not, but who's to say she wants us there? She hasn't been too keen on our help so far."

"She is right, dude," Henry said. Kate nodded. "Magnus has made it pretty clear she's going solo on this one."

"Okay, listen," Will said, in frustration, "She may want to 'go solo', but what if she's walking into something that even Magnus can't handle? Her behaviour becomes unpredictable when she's around Tesla."

Kate and Henry stood silently for a moment, and then exchanged a look.

"Besides," Will said, with a small grin, "She let us know where she was going, right? So what's the harm in us just going down there to grab a nice drink?"

Will walked off to grab his things, leaving Kate and Henry to think about it quickly.

"He's right, I suppose," Kate sighed.

"I don't know," Henry said. "In all the time I've known Magnus... I've never known her to rush into something she didn't know she could handle."

"But what if it is different this time, Hank?" Kate said, "What if she thinks she can handle it but can't? Do you really want to find that our later? Sure, she may yell at us and do that 'I'm angry face' for a few days – but what's a bit of tough love when it means she's around to do it?"

"But she does a _really _good angry face," Henry said. Kate laughed and shook her head.

"Come on, Hank, grab some stuff, we're going Magnus hunting," she said.

\||\\

Helen drove quickly to the pub. She knew that her team over at the Sanctuary would probably turn up here, at some point, but she would probably be long gone by then. She hoped. She didn't fancy having to explain herself to them right now, it would take too much time. Besides, just as last time, she had to be alone for this. Nikola's captor was smart, and he liked playing games, he would know if she was bringing along some friends to their little party.

She knew what she had to do. It was déjà vu, really. She was running off – possibly foolishly – to save Nikola, into the hands of a man she knew to be smart and ruthless. Not one of her best moves ever, but it was the only way to save Nikola again. After all, she had gotten him into the mess in the first place by giving him the blood and then going to this man for help. It was her mess to clean up, not Nikola's, and not her team at the Sanctuary.

She stopped outside the pub. It looked nothing like the one she'd gone to in England all those years ago. Not that it should, how could it? But she could still feel a nervous flutter in her stomach. If all went well, though, she would be seeing her vampire soon. She had to keep thinking of that. It was for Nikola.

She took a deep breath and walked into the pub to make a few 'discreet' enquiries to which she knew would get attention from the right people. Just like the last time. The game was afoot. There was no turning back now.

"Hold on, Nikola," she breathed, "I'm coming."

**So, no blatant Will bashing in this one either (just some mild healthy Will phone bashing).**


	9. Chapter 9

**And, don't fear, there's some Tesla in this chapter – thanks to Meegan, who's very long 'aw' made me feel bad. ;) Though there may be some more 'awing' for poor Nikola... **

**Enough of my talking, on with the story! **

\||\\

Nikola could almost feel the beads of perspiration forming on his forehead as he clenched his hands, a ripple of pain shooting through him. It was invading all of his senses and made him feel like every nerve end was on fire. Nikola Tesla was by no means, in all of his one hundred and fifty odd years, a stranger to pain. Living as long as he had, coupled with his involvement in the frontiers of science and, more relevantly, his grating personality, he had most definitely seen his share. Even as a vampire.

But this was something different altogether.

He'd watched a few minutes ago – though by now it seemed an agonizing life time – in morbid curiosity as his seemingly psychotic captor injected him with an innocent enough looking substance. Though judging by the now all-too familiar gleam in his captor's eyes, it was not even close to the innocuous substance it first appeared.

Though what they would be doing injecting him with a mere saline solution or something of the sort he had no idea. Right now, he really wouldn't have cared about the logic of it all if it meant the pain would end.

At first, it had done nothing. Nikola had looked over at the man with eyebrows raised as if to say 'is that it?', but the man had just smiled that annoying knowing smile back at the captive vampire. His eyes seemed to say 'just wait', as he stood in barely contained anticipation. Obviously he was very excited about trying this drug, whatever the hell it was.

Nikola didn't miss the way two extra guards slipped into the room and stood stiffly by the door. What were they expecting to happen?

Then it hit.

It didn't begin with a throbbing, or a dull ache, or even a slight grating pain. No, it came at full force. He hadn't been able to stop the cry that was ripped from his throat as his eyes slammed shut, as though darkness would stop it. He didn't need to open his eyes to know the man was grinning in triumph, or that he was enjoying it.

So, Nikola lay helplessly strapped down to the chair as wave after wave of crippling, agonizing pain rippled through his shaking body.

His mind was blurry and sluggish from the constant pain and his thoughts disjointed. But, still, all he could manage to think was, _I hope Helen is safe_. Him going through this was one thing, but he didn't think his heart would be able to handle watching Helen go through it. That could be the end of him, vampiric immortality and all.

If there was ever a time for Helen to pass off his absence as sulking, brooding, or secretive world dominating plotting and leave him be, now was it.

_Please Helen,_ he sent out a silent thought in the midst of his blurry minded haze, _don't come looking for me. Hate me. Shove me out of your life. Forget about me. Just whatever you do, don't come and find me._

\||\|

Well this was just perfect. Even by Helen's standards, and considering what she usually got up to on a day-to-day basis that was saying something, she was positively and royally quite possibly perhaps maybe just in a little bit of a pickle. There was still a small part of her that thought 'hey, you've done these kinds of things before, you can handle this'. But, really, just like last time (though it had been a hundred years before), she was at this mysterious man's mercy.

She'd been a fool to think last time that she'd even had a shred of control once she'd put herself in his hands. Now, she was just praying some sort of divine plan of action would pop into her mind at the most opportune moment. That was after she found Nikola, so she had lots of time.

Yes, she was most definitely in trouble.

She was sitting in a van squished unceremoniously between two surly looking men who had some rather impressive biceps. Her hands were bound in front of her and her weapons had been taken. All of her weapons. The thorough pat-down (more thorough than necessary in her opinion, the man conducting it had seemed to enjoy it a bit too much) had been quite unpleasant.

So, once again, in summary, it hadn't been her smartest idea to date. Made even stupider by the fact that it was the second time she'd made this particular one. Damn Nikola. She'd blame him for it, and then punish him with some handcuffs in her bedroom. She wanted to punish him in private after all. She almost snorted to herself. Why did she even both trying to conceal it in her own mind anymore? She'd just made what was possibly the most foolish action by walking into the hands of a notorious and shady man for Nikola Tesla. Why did she bother even pretending? Force of habit, she supposed.

It was while she was going through this thought process that they stopped. She hadn't even noticed. Not until one of her large-bicep-ed escorts pulled her up with a soft grunt. Helen shot him a scathing look, she still had her dignity after all.

The man just chuckled.

"Come on," he said, pushing her in the back to get her moving.

She looked around after they were out of the van. The entire alleyway was littered with over-turned rubbish bins and large shards of metal. They were standing in front of the only warehouse she could see in the vicinity. They must be right on the outskirts of the city. A prompt nudge from her escort caused an abrupt end to her sight-seeing. She took a deep breath as they entered the warehouse. This was it then.

What she heard when she entered made her heart skip several beats and her blood run cold. She stood frozen in her spot, and not even the insistent pushing from her escort could make her move.

It was a hoarse, loud, desperate scream. Nikola's scream.

She knew the difference between the sound of someone's screaming in fright and in pain. This was one of those chilling screams, that forced a shiver down your spine. She'd never heard Nikola's voice twisted into such a sound of agony, nor did she ever want to again.

She closed her eyes to stop tears trickling down her cheeks.

It was all her fault. She hadn't come soon enough, she hadn't saved him. It was her fault he'd left in the first place. It was all because she'd been too stupid and terrified of opening her heart to him; of opening it to the perfection that would have been them together. Because she'd been running from their perfection for over a hundred years, burying her head in the sand and blinding herself to it, pretending it didn't exist. It had been easier that way. She couldn't be hurt that way. But what she hadn't realised then, and what she hadn't until now, was that she still could be hurt. Ignoring the obvious, her feelings for Nikola, didn't protect her heart. She was too far gone for that. In the end, it seemed it had only caused them more heartache. She'd hurt him and herself anyway. All because she'd been scared.

**Please don't hurt me for hurting Nikola! Helen can kiss him better? ;) **


	10. Chapter 10

**More explanations in this chapter... and Nikola and Helen finally find each other. **

Nikola was lying in crumpled heap on the floor near the foot of the chair formerly used to restrain him. It seemed his captors knew how weak he had become, and had decided to free him. It was a cruel sort of torment; he'd been struggling to free himself and now that he was, he was too feeble and pathetic to really make use of the lack of restraint. His meagre attempts at swiping at them with his claws had only served to amuse them.

He didn't know how long it had been since they'd started with the drugs. It could have been hours, days, weeks even for all he knew; or it could have been mere minutes. Time had lost meaning in his mind. Nikola was not used to this, he _always _counted. Even when it seemed foolish to do so, he would obsessively count the passing minutes. But not now. Now he could only lay helplessly and pray for the pain to stop.

He opened his eyes to see a maliciously grinning face hovering above him, though it took a long few moments for the face to register in Nikola's mind. _This was a bad guy, right? Why was he smiling? What did he want? Didn't everyone realise he just wanted to curl up in a dark corner and be left alone?_

He was saying something now, and it took all of Nikola's concentration to decipher the words.

"...since you've been _so _helpful," the man was saying. _Helpful, how had he been helpful? _He was speaking again, "We have a special surprise for you, Mr Tesla."

_Oh, how lovely, a surprise for him! No wait...something wasn't right. He shouldn't be excited about that, should he? This man was bad. So very not good. He was evil, with his evil twitching moustache. Yes, that was it._

"...I'm sure you'll be very happy to see her," the man finished.

It once again took a while for Nikola's fuzzy mind to process this. _Who would be happy to see him?_

But then it clicked in his mind and he struggled to remain lucid. _Helen_, _no!_ _No, no, no, no, no – this was _not _good_!

The immediate danger facing Helen – and perhaps the fact they hadn't injected him for a little while – allowed Nikola's mind to slowly come to a state of semi-focus. The pain was less sharp, the effects of the drug must be wearing off... for now at least.

"I see you're coming back to us," the man said. If Nikola ever got out of this, he was going to whack the smile off the man's face. Well, after kissing Helen senseless anyway. Even if she didn't let him, he'd tie her down and kiss her senseless. Tying Helen down... what a tantalizing thought. He'd explore that little gem later, right now he needed to focus.

"Miss me?" Nikola spat. He was quietly testing his strength. His body was still very weak. It felt heavy, as though his limbs were made of lead, and still throbbed with a dull ache.

"Oh I know someone who has been missing you immensely," the man grinned. He nodded to one of his accomplices, who opened the door.

For a moment, Nikola wondered if that had all just been for dramatic effect to scare him, as nothing immediately happened. But then, two men came through the door. But it was the person they were 'escorting' that caught Nikola's attention and caused his heart to skip a few beats.

Helen.

He watched as she took in her surroundings expertly with her eyes – those beautiful wide eyes that had been burned into his soul since their days at Oxford – before they fell on him. They widened slightly, and filled with concern. He could see the tears there and hated himself for causing them. If he had only stayed at the Sanctuary, and hadn't been blinded by his stupid pride. He should have just put in his head then that he _didn't have _pride when it came to Helen Magnus. Who had he been kidding? He would follow her to the end of the Earth, pathetic or not. Even if she didn't want him, if she yelled at him, if she told him she hated him, he would still remain by her side.

If only he had realised this then instead of trying to cling to any shreds of dignity he fooled himself into thinking he had when it came to her. Then none of this would have ever happened. She wouldn't be in the hands of a deranged psychopath.

"_Nikola_!"

Her voice was so filled with concern for him he almost let himself believe that maybe, just maybe, she could feel the same way about him too.

Helen managed to weave between her two escorts and rush towards him. She made it about three quarters of the way to him too before she was stopped. One of the men grabbed her around the waist to stop her and she let out a small sob. Her eyes were so sad. He didn't like to see her eyes so sad. He'd promised her that he would never hurt her like John had, but then here they were.

The chuckling of Nikola's captor snapped Helen out of her single-minded focus on Nikola. Her eyes narrowed and Nikola willed his body to work again. He had to save Helen.

"So nice of you to join our little party at last, Dr Magnus," the man's lips curled into one of his twisted smiles.

"I knew it," Helen said, shaking her head. She squirmed out of the arms of the man who had grabbed her with an indignant look. "But then, you knew I would figure it out, didn't you? Counted on it, in fact... that man's tattoo was a nice touch."

The man smirked.

"I admit, I underestimated you the last time we met," he replied, "A mistake I assure you I will not make again."

Nikola could only watch in confusion and a bit of desperation. He needed Helen to get out of here before the man could hurt her. But the way they were speaking, it seemed like they knew each other. His mind was still so sluggish. He was trying to follow, to piece things together, but it was so hard.

"What do you want?" Helen hissed. She was standing her ground in front of him, but she was the great Helen Magnus after all.

"I would have thought _that_ was obvious, my dear Helen," the man said.

"Helen, you know this psycho?" Nikola managed.

Both of their eyes flicked back to Nikola, as though they'd momentarily forgotten he was there. She ignored him for now as he watched in confusion.

"Our 'deal' was a one time thing," Helen ground out.

"Ah, come now, Helen," the man said, "You wouldn't want to mess me around again, would you? You see, your mistake, my dear, was revealing your weakness. Which is what got you involved with me in the first place, though, isn't it?"

"I came to you the last time," Helen said, "We had a deal, an exchange."

"Then I see you underestimated me," the man said, "_You _didn't exactly fulfil your part."

"Nothing you wouldn't have done," she bit back. The man laughed.

"True," he chuckled, "I always did like your audaciousness, Helen. We would have been unstoppable together."

"I thought you were dead," Helen said, quietly.

"Wishful thinking," he chuckled. "I was, in a way, for a while there. Thanks to you."

"Helen, I know this isn't the time," Nikola croaked hoarsely, "But it really needs to be said that you need to look into the fact that everyone you kill comes back to life."

She shot him a look.

"I see you haven't told your vampire pet about our dealings?" the man smirked.

"We had no 'dealings'," Helen spat. "You forced my hand."

"C'est la vie," the man shrugged. "Now, no more playing around..."

"What have you done to Nikola?" Helen insisted, standing firm.

"Oh just a little experiment we've been working on," he shrugged, "I'm sure your little vampire can attest to the potency of our new weapon."

Nikola merely whimpered at the memory of the searing pain the drug had caused.

"The funny thing is," the man continued, enjoying this a little too much, "It's sort of your fault that your precious vampire got to experience the drug I've been developing. It is thanks to your blood that I've been able to develop it."

"Helen?" Nikola tried once more. "What is this madman going on about?"

Helen looked over at him with wide eyes. She shook her head sadly.

"I am so sorry, Nikola," she said, "I did it because I..." she shifted her eyes away. The words caught in her throat. She couldn't say it, not now, not when she had caused him so much suffering.

"Your perfect Helen here," the man said, only too happy to explain, "Made a deal with the devil a hundred years ago."

"The devil being you?" Nikola said.

"You see," the man ignored the jibe, "Helen and I had a little agreement back then. You were very sick, and dearest Helen here just couldn't let you die. So she came to me. I was the only one she could get a cure off. I'd been doing some dealings with several people who had extracted documents and artefacts from the ruins of an ancient city."

Nikola remembered the time the man was referring to, he'd been so sure that he would die. But then Helen had injected him with some miraculous cure and it had gone away. He hadn't really thought too deeply about it then. Perhaps he should have.

"But you didn't give her the cure for free," Nikola said, it wasn't a question. His eyes drifted over to Helen. She stood silently, refusing to meet his eyes.

"No," he man said, "We had a deal – the cure for her blood."

Helen looked sheepish. Nikola was shocked. He couldn't believe she would hand over her blood – imbued with unknown power and possibilities from the Source Blood – to someone like this. It was dangerous in anyone's hands, and downright foolish to put it in the hands of a man like this.

"Helen, how could you?" Nikola said.

"How can you be so blind still?" the man chuckled, "She did it for you, to save you, because she loves you." Helen's eyes widened. "It's obvious. Why else would someone so brilliant hand over a vial of her blood to someone like me?"

Nikola couldn't argue with that, but it still seemed too good (the 'her loving him' part, not the rest) to be true.

"Helen..." Nikola said.

"I couldn't let you die," she said, suddenly. Her voice was strong, determined, though her eyes were filled with tears, "I _wouldn't _let you die. Not when taking the Source Blood, and your condition, were my fault. I didn't give him an untainted sample." She smiled sheepishly, and Nikola couldn't help but feel proud of her for that deception.

"No, that's where I underestimated the good doctor," the man sneered, "She managed to slip a toxin into the blood sample unbeknownst to me. It made it very _tricky _for me later on, not to mention very painful." He looked over at Helen darkly. "But, the ironic thing is, once I'd managed to separate the blood from the toxin for myself... I could use the tainted sample to develop a weapon of sorts."

"Now you want more," Helen said. He smiled.

"Yes," he said, "But I also want revenge. Call it fulfilling our deal, Helen. You will get to know the same suffering I knew because of your deception."

Nikola felt his heart freeze. Despite his earlier desperation to never experience the effects of that drug again, he knew he would gladly take a hundred doses if it meant saving Helen.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for all your reviews guys, you all rock. : ) **

**I thought Nikola and Helen deserved a little happiness after so much angst... so here we go. **

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They'd been moved into a sort of holding cell after their little chat – he was not jesting when he had said he would not underestimate her again. Helen didn't want to wonder what preparations the man was doing for her, he seemed to like the anticipation of it all, keeping them in suspense. He had been holding a grudge for a century or so, so she supposed it shouldn't really be that surprising. It did not bode well at all for her though, nor for Nikola.

The room was only five or six paces long and had no windows. The only way to enter or exit was through the thick wooden door they'd been led in by. It was softly illuminated by a panelled light on the ceiling, too high for her to reach.

"Oh dear lord, this is not good," Helen said.

"You think?" Nikola grumbled.

Helen shot a look in his direction.

"We have to get out of here, any ideas?" she said.

"Ah, but you're doing such a wonderful job of breaking us free yourself I'd hate to interfere," he uttered sarcastically.

"Now is not the time for joking, Nikola," she said, looking over at him once more. He was looking at her angrily, hands on hips. But there was something else besides anger in his eyes, and for once she couldn't read it properly.

"You shouldn't have come here," he hissed, starting to pace furiously.

"Well, I am so very sorry for coming to save your ungrateful self!" she said, crossing her arms. She was hurt by his actions. Didn't he want to see her? Perhaps he had been doing what he wanted in leaving the Sanctuary. "I won't make that mistake again!"

Nikola paused and turned to look at her upon hearing the venom in her tone. His face softened. He realised he must have come across quite harshly. Especially after what he'd just learnt about her saving him by putting her own life into this psycho man's hands – twice.

"Helen," he said, slowly. She looked up at him with wide blue eyes. She was hurt, he could see, but there was something else there too he couldn't quite place. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I am grateful you came for me, it's just you unknowingly played right into their hands. Don't you see they _want _you here?"

"I _know _that, Nikola," she growled. "I came knowing that. But what else was I to do?"

"Why did you come without backup anyway?" he said, the thought occurring to him. She looked away meekly.

"I... I was," she said, "I was on a bit of a warpath. I was so...concerned about you that I hardly stopped to think." A grin spread on Nikola's face.

"Now," he said, teasing her, "Doesn't this remind me of something? Ah, yes! When we were in the tombs and you rather enthusiastically used a rock to -,"she walked over to him and covered his mouth with her hand.

"Let's not dwell," she said, "Don't we have something more important to think about? Like, oh I don't know, finding a way out of here?"

He continued to grin infuriatingly at her as she removed her hand from his mouth, but didn't say anything.

He didn't speak again until Helen was running her hands over the sides of the door to find a way to free them. Though once they got out she had no idea what they'd do, there were armed men out there and all they had was the pair of them. Usually, this would be quite a formidable match; but Nikola was weak from the drug and she herself could only do so much against a myriad of gunmen.

"Helen," his voice was soft and low and, and though her hands paused in their movements, she didn't turn around. The tone in his voice had her rooted to the spot. She knew this wasn't exactly an issue they could skirt around forever. "Why did you do it all those years ago? Why did you never tell me? It was reckless and foolish."

"As James always said," she tried to jest to lighten the atmosphere, "I jump first and hope I'll grow wings later."

"Please, give me a straight answer," there was something so desperate in his voice, and yet something so final.

She turned slowly. She could see it in his eyes as well as hearing it in his voice. He had waited for over a hundred years for her, for her to say it, for her to give an inclination to him about her feelings. He wanted – needed – her to say it. He'd left because she had told him to, and had been through hell with a drug that had been her fault; ironically created as a result of her saving him the first time. Though, she'd had to save him that time as a result of her own actions once again. She really had to stop jeopardizing the life of the man she loved. She also had to stop mentally referring to him as such.

She looked up; his gaze lingered unwaveringly on her. Why did he need this now? She'd been so sure before coming here – in her head she'd imagined finding him and throwing her arms around him and never letting him go. Now, faced with the man – vampire – himself she felt that familiar feeling of fear.

_Why am I such a bloody coward? _

It always came down to that, didn't it? She always held back around him because she was scared. Every time she could tell herself she'd tell him. She'd told herself a hundred years ago that, once she'd delivered the cure to him, she would tell him she loved him. But then he'd recovered and life had got in the way, as well as her own fear. She had thought they had so much time, and being immortal they did in a way. She had had John and he his inventions.

But then he'd de-vamped himself, and there had been a whole different kind of fear. He had been mortal, albeit fleetingly, and she hadn't wanted to lose him.

She was tired. She was so damned tired of being scared, of running away from her feelings like the scared girl she used to be in another life-time. God damnit she loved Nikola Tesla and she was going to break this cycle of fright and danger and just tell him! She may be dead by morning if their captor had his way, she may not get another time to tell him. Funny how mortal peril made one brave.

"Nikola I don't know what's going to happen to us, and I am so very sorry for this. It's my fault," she said. That wasn't how it was supposed to go. He visibly deflated and spun around. They were back to their old game, then.

"Just say it Helen," he spat, and she was momentarily surprised by the anger there, "I'm just a constant liability, the annoying vampire that you have to keep saving. You came because you felt a responsibility to. Don't worry about me, once we get out of here, I'll go my separate way again. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

She'd been through this once less than a week ago. She wasn't going to give in and pretend anymore.

"That's not why I came!" she said, "That's not why I did it the last time, and it's certainly not why I did it again."

"Then, what?" he said, turning to face her now. Gone was the fear, replaced with the determination and strength that characterized Helen Magnus.

"Because I love you; you endlessly infuriating, maddeningly exasperating, vampire!" she said.

He stood for a moment stunned, as if not quite believing what he had just heard.

"You're serious? You're not just saying this because we may very well die out there?" he said. His damn ever-suspicious mind wouldn't rest, not even when the woman he had loved for most of his life-time told him she returned those feelings. Helen laughed.

"Yes, Nikola, I am very serious," she said.

A grin spread across his face.

"Well, in that case," Nikola said, "I think we should find a way out of here so we can go and celebrate more officially, don't you?"

She laughed and rolled her eyes. He hadn't changed, and she hoped that he never would.

"As usual, your ideas are seemingly impossible, but brilliant," Helen said.

"Well of course they're brilliant," he said, "This is me we're talking about."

"Bloody hell, I tell you I love you and you're back to acting like an arrogant ass," she said, affectionately.

"But you _love _me as an arrogant ass," he pointed out. Damn, she couldn't argue with his reasoning there. "Uh, Helen?"

"Hmm?" she said.

"In case we, uh, you know... die or something," he said, trailing off.

She frowned, unsure what he was getting at, but didn't have much time to think it through as it became apparent pretty quickly. Nikola's lips crashed onto hers before she had the chance to speak, and then she didn't really care about what she was going to say. She moaned into his mouth and her arms instinctively snaked around his neck. Nikola growled softly in response.

Now, this was more like it. At least one of her ideas was going according to plan today – kissing Nikola senseless. Well, he was more kissing her senseless but she wasn't going to complain about minor details like that.


	12. Chapter 12

"Nikola," Helen said in an attempt to halt their tryst – though she herself wasn't even sure whether she had said it more as a moan or to gain his attention. "_Nikola_." She repeated more firmly, finally managing to let herself gain enough composure. She was sure that, should they continued this for much longer, then she would not be able to stop. She wasn't too keen on starting anything in their current location.

Her chest was heaving as they broke apart, her lungs greedily sucking the air they had been so deprived of moments earlier. Nikola and Helen stood with their foreheads pressed together as they both tried to catch their breath. Apparently over a hundred years of pent up emotions led to _really _good kissing. She didn't even want to think about anything beyond that right now or she was afraid that she _would _just jump him right then and there.

"Helen," he breathed her name and her heart clenched. Why hadn't she swallowed her pride and fear and told him sooner, damnit? She shouldn't dwell on that, not now. "I love you, you know that right? I always have."

She bit back tears at that. How much must it have hurt him to watch her for all those years, to watch her with John, to seem to want nothing more than friendship with him? Him loving her all the while...

"Don't cry," he said wiping a fallen tear from her cheek. She hadn't even realised she had been crying. "Just think of it as really long foreplay." She let out a choked laugh.

"I'm sorry that we're here, Nikola," she said, "It's my fault that we're in this position."

"Hey, you did this the first time to save me, right?" he said, "So it's sort of my fault."

"Nikola Tesla admitting to fault?" she said.

"Don't get used to it," he smirked.

"There's something else I'd very much like to get used to," Helen smiled, brushing her lips against his once more. He grinned.

"As much as I would love to continue this," he said, "And you _know _how much I would." The sincerity and lust in his eyes almost made her giggle despite their situation. "I'd prefer to continue this somewhere where pain and death isn't imminent."

"You've always been fussy," Helen sighed.

His lips twitched upwards but he didn't respond.

"I have an idea," Nikola said.

"Am I going to like it?" she said.

"We're hardly in a win-win situation here, Helen," Nikola said, "I'd say we take what we can get."

"You're just eager to get out of here so we can continue what we just started, aren't you?" she said, narrowing her eyes in amused suspicion.

"Does my motivation really matter at this point?" she could have sworn she heard exasperation in his tone.

"No, I suppose not," she agreed, "So, what is this ingenious plan of yours?"

"Could you not sound so sceptical when you say that?" Nikola said. "Or need I remind you of your brilliant rescue mission?"

"Would you rather I not have come?" she said. He sighed.

"Alright, in the interest of getting out of here so I can have my way with you in a much more appealing and less dangerous location, I shall concede that I am grateful you are here," Nikola said.

"Nikola Tesla, _grateful_?" she teased.

"Well this is sort of a day of confessions," he said, "I thought I'd join in."

She let out a short laugh, but the sound of approaching footsteps sobered them both up. The promise of blinding pain and probable death was probably not something they wanted to forget about right now. Not even when there was the promise of ignoring it and making wild love on the floor of their cell, no matter how tempting it was.

Helen let out a relieved breath when the door didn't open, and the footsteps dimmed. They'd been lucky no one had come for them that time, but they had to focus.

Nikola looked up at the ceiling.

"If I lift you up, can you remove the plastic covering to that light?" he said.

"Of course, but why?" she said, glancing upwards.

"I think we can make use of it," he said.

"Nikola, we are not going to be able to electrocute a myriad of armed guards with a single bulb," she said, speaking slowly as if explaining this to a child.

"That wasn't my plan," he said, "Obviously."

"Then what?" she said.

"Just stop asking so many questions and come over here," he ordered. Helen raised her hands in defeat with a small sigh. It wasn't as though she had been struck by sudden inspiration of how to get them out of here.

She rolled her eyes at Nikola's grin as he wrapped his arms around her body to lift her up.

"Don't be so juvenile, Nikola," she said. She halted in her instinctive scolding when she noticed the little grimace flashing on Nikola's face. "Nikola?"

"It's nothing," he ground out, "Just the effects of that lovely drug your...old friend was using on me."

Helen felt a pang of guilt once again. God she hated what Nikola had had to go through because of her. She was most definitely going to make that up to him when – and she decidedly ignored the little voice in her head who said 'if' – they got out of here.

"It's nothing, Helen," he said, "Let's just concentrate on this and you can figure out how you'll make it up to me later." He added the last part with a grin. Her eyes widened briefly. The thought of Nikola reading her mind was a terrifying one.

Nikola hoisted Helen up with relative ease after that, despite his weakened state, and she deftly removed the covering on the light-panel. The plastic sheet dropped to the ground with a soft clatter as Helen exposed the two long cylindrical bulbs that lit the room. She was inspecting them right as she felt Nikola falter and she tumbled unceremoniously to the ground with a soft yelp.

Pushing herself up, she crawled worriedly over to Nikola who was laying in a pitiful heap.

"Nikola," she said, not even bothering to hide the genuine concern in her voice.

"Mmphf," he mumbled. But she could tell he was attempting to prevent himself from whimpering in whatever pain he must be feeling.

"Damnit, Nikola, you should have told me you were in this much pain!" she said. Tears of anger, guilt and desperation prickled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

"Kissing you was quite therapeutic," he said weakly with a small half-smile which turned to a grimace again. She couldn't even bother being mad at him for his cheeky remarks.

"Oh Nikola," she sighed.

"Helen," he said, seriously, "I'm weak... you should get out of here yourself."

"Nikola, no!" she said, "I came here to help you; I am not leaving without you! Get that into your head!" Her expression softened. "How bad is it?"

"I'm afraid you might need another date to the prom yet again," he said with a little smile. Him echoing those grim words he'd uttered to her less than a week ago, though by now it felt a life-time, made her heart flutter in fear.

"Don't you dare," she said, "Don't you _dare_ give up on me, Nikola Tesla. I forbid you from leaving me, not now. You hear me?"

"I always did like it when you got all bossy, Helen," he said.

"Bite me," she said. It took him a moment to process her words.

"What?" he frowned.

"Bite me," she repeated, "My blood – it will strengthen you."

"Helen..." he said.

"Nikola, I've already said I'm not leaving without you," she said, "How else do you propose we get out of here? I need you to be strong enough so that we can get out of here."

"Helen, I promised I wouldn't feed on humans," he said. She was touched that, even now, he was still loathe to break his word to her. But he had to do this.

"Nikola, since I am the one to whom you made that promise, I think it is acceptable that I allow you to break it this once," she said. "Please, Nikola."

Nikola looked into her face, he could see – as well as hear – the desperation. She wasn't ready to lose him, not when she'd just realised what he meant to her. He couldn't leave her, not like this. He nodded grimly.

"Wrist, or neck?" she said as soon as he had agreed.

"Neck," he croaked out as she helped him sit. "I need a better source right now." She nodded.

They sat on the floor together and Helen couldn't help feel a tremor of excitement rush through her body. The thought of Nikola's teeth sinking into her aroused her in ways she really shouldn't be feeling right now, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't help but think of the wicked things they could have been doing for him to bite her like this.

Nikola shuffled himself forward so that he was now close enough to her to gain better access to the creamy expanse of neck. He couldn't help but let his mind wander briefly to the arousing scenarios in which they could be doing this particular activity, but forced himself to concentrate. He couldn't let himself get carried away. He placed a gentle hand on Helen's hip as much to comfort her as to steady his own weakened body. He looked into those bright blue eyes, giving her one last chance to back out. She smiled softly and cupped his cheek with her hand. She pressed a light kiss to his lips.

"Bite me, Nikola," she whispered as she drew back.

That was all the encouragement Nikola needed. The combination of his current arousal, Helen's obvious willingness, and the fact he hadn't had his medication for days since his re-vamping was too much for him to resist. He sank his now extended fangs into the creamy skin of her neck. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced, she was perfect. He heard her gasp and paused, ready to retract his fangs if he was hurting her too much, but then he heard her moan his name softly. Her blood was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted, it was even better than what he had imagined it would be like. He knew now that no wine would ever satisfy his thirst as much as Helen's taste.

Helen herself moaned in a low voice. Her eyes had fluttered closed. At first it had been a shock of pain as he pierced the skin of her neck but then she had felt an overwhelming pleasure course through her body. All of her senses seemed to come alive and welcomed his touch. She knew now that she would crave his touch like no other.

Then, he drew back from her and she was captivated with morbid interest at the sight of her own blood on his teeth and lips. Her eyes were wide and she was slightly dazed. She wanted to do nothing more than throw herself at him and beg him to take her, to touch her.

He licked his lips, cleaning the blood away, and his fangs retracted. He was growing stronger, he could feel it, her blood rejuvenating him and making him feel alive and invincible. He couldn't help but stare at the two pin-point marks on her neck that marked her as his. He couldn't suppress the pleased shiver that ran through him. He reached out to wipe a droplet of blood from her neck near the marks.

"Nikola," she whimpered as her eyes fluttered closed once more. He cocked his head curiously with a small smile, intrigued by the effect he was having on her.

"Helen," he said, his concern for her overriding any possessiveness he had previously experienced, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said. She seemed to have regained her composure again, though her eyes kept flitting to his lips longingly. "How do you feel?"

"More alive than I have in years," he grinned.

"Good," she returned the smile, "Now let's get to work on getting out of here."

**Yay, Nikola is back baby! Back with a need for revenge... hey, he's not going to let some creep hurt his Helen now is he? ;) **


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay so I have no idea if what Nikola does later on makes any sense... I know that Nikola can do some pretty cool stuff with electricity, so we're going to pretend it does make sense... : )**

**I know you have no idea what I'm rambling on about now, so I'll let you get to actually reading the chapter! **

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"Nikola, would you care to explain what it is exactly you are attempting to achieve?" Helen said, for the second time in as many minutes.

Her gaze was met by a pair of blackened eyes and she couldn't suppress the chill that ran through her body. Damn, she really should have thought about the effect letting him drink her blood would have had; now was most definitely not the time to be fantasizing about a certain vampire. They may be alone in a tiny room but there was a vicious vengeful man out there out for their blood, literally and figuratively, and she should really be focusing on that. Helen had never had trouble focusing on the task at hand in the past, in fact it was something she'd always prided herself on. Nikola always seemed to manage to just waltz in and mess every carefully constructed wall she built. She would hate him if she didn't love him so much, she really would.

"Helen," he chuckled, snapping her out of her reverie, "By the petulant – and may I add adorable – little frown that's settled so determinedly on your lovely face, I assume you're plotting various ways to kill me...again?"

She looked up at him in annoyance. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her back against their cell wall, her arms similarly crossed over her chest. Nikola stood in the centre of the room under their light fitting, his hand was raising and he was doing something. She was just wasn't sure what it was yet. Helen hated being in the dark.

"What do you mean 'attempting to achieve' anyway, my dear?" he said, "I'm brilliant, remember? Of course I'll achieve my goal." She rolled her eyes.

"Nikola, I do not doubt your brilliance – how could I when you remind me of it with such frequency?" she said, adding a sweet smile to the latter comment. He chuckled. "I just wonder if you might hurry it along, they've left us alone for far too long."

"That is true," Nikola conceded.

"I've been thinking about that, actually," Helen continued, watching the utterly adorable look of concentration spread over Nikola's face. She had to look away to stop herself from standing up and throwing herself into his arms. She was really going to have to at least try and regain some modicum of control over her thoughts when they got home.

"I daresay they're just preparing something extra special," Nikola said darkly.

"No, I meant theorizing on our mysterious captor," Helen said.

"He's a psychopath, Helen, what more is there?" Nikola said.

"A lot," Helen said, "I mean... that's just it, he seems unhinged." Nikola looked at her and nodded with an expression that seemed to scream 'you think?'

"I think the blood did that to him," she said, "The last time we met, he wasn't a shining beacon of morality -,"

"Neither were you, missy," Nikola smirked, "A young lady sneaking off in the night to meet with some strange trader against her father's wishes." She rolled her eyes at his teasing tone.

"Would you like to hear my theory, or would you simply prefer to wait until said psychopath decides to throw another tea-party with us as the entertainment?" Helen bit back.

"I apologise most sincerely," Nikola said, "Do continue."

"Thank you," she said, "Well, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted." She glared at him pointedly, "Our captor was bad – but he wasn't as outright crazy. I think the blood affected him."

"Well, yes, that would be why he's alive, dear," Nikola said. She resisted – and rather admirably – another eye roll.

"Are you that determined to _not _hear what I have to say?" Helen said. Nikola turned to her and stood waiting for her to continue. "I think that what I did to the blood," she could tell by Nikola's proud grin he was dying to say something on that, "Caused some sort of reaction... perhaps similar to what happened to John."

"As much as I hate to say it," Nikola said, "Our dear Johnny was not turned crazy by the Source Blood but by another abnormal."

"That may be true," Helen said, "But our tests at the time, when we were trying to figure out what had happened to John, they were all based on the notion that he had been turned by the Blood. It was never ruled out."

"So, what you're saying is with the combination of the Source Blood and your toxin..." Nikola said.

"We've no idea what he is anymore," Helen finished, "Or what he's capable of."

"Peachy," Nikola said.

Helen nodded lost in thought. Then she looked back up at the vampire who was standing idly in front of her.

"Weren't you working on something?" she said making a gesture to the roof.

"Before you insisted on having theory time?" Nikola grinned, "I'm already done."

"What did you do?" she said.

"I know how much you usually hate me messing around with the power at the Sanctuary," Nikola said, "But I'm sure you can forgive me this time, seeing as we're not at the Sanctuary."

As if on cue – and she wouldn't be altogether surprised if it were timed by the vampire himself – the lights turned off and the sound of power shutting off could be heard. Helen could hear the startled cries of the guards outside and shouting from not too far off.

"You turned the power off?" she smirked, though he couldn't see her now they were in complete darkness.

"Everything runs off power here, all the locks and rooms are sealed with electric doors. They'll be sealed in. They're going to be pretty angry when they get out," Nikola said, "Which I would prefer not to be around for..."

She felt his hand grab hers and remembered he could probably see a lot better in the dark than she with his vampiric senses. She allowed him to place her hand on his arm so he could lead her as they walked to the door. Nikola opened it cautiously, the effect of shutting down the power in the warehouse obviously meant the door was unlocked. Helen could have jumped in glee at the fact that their door had been electronically locked. It was ironic really, their captor had made those precautions knowing no physical lock would keep them in.

"They just opened the door!" she heard one of the guards shout out to another. Helen heard the sound of guns clicking.

"Well what are you waiting for?" another guard said, "Grab 'em! The boss will not be happy if we let them get out!"

Helen focused on the sound of their shuffling feet so she could place their locations. She'd let go of Nikola's arm, both of them knowing without verbal communication what the other intended. He knew she was capable of protecting herself and of defending herself from the guards. The fought side by side, as they always had, as equals. Within minutes the four guards were on the ground at the mercy of the pissed off vampire and his angry companion. Helen grabbed a gun from one of them for good measure.

"Come on," she heard Nikola say.

"How long do you think before they get the power back on?" Helen said as they walked down the hallway, her hand once again on his arm.

"With my work?" she didn't need to see him to know he was smirking, "A while."

"What did you do, Nikola?" she said.

"It's amazing, really, what one can do with magnetism and control of electricity," Nikola said. "That was their one mistake, giving me an access point. All I needed was a connection point to the power source."

"You really are amazing, Nikola," she said.

"You can think about thanking me later, my dear," Nikola said, "Right now, we've got some company. Not that I would mind a little exhibitionism with you but -," she slapped her hand across his mouth.

She listened intently as the heavy thuds of boots on concrete could be heard, they were running, shouting things to each other. Amongst the words she heard those of 'prisoners' and 'escaped'.

"Well, they know we've got out," Helen commented once the sound of their footsteps had died down.

"It's a given," Nikola said, "Once the power is off, there's nothing stopping us from getting out."

"Now we need to find an actual way out," she said, "before they figure out a way around your handy work." Nikola scoffed. "As much as I trust you and your handy work, Niko. I also don't want to find out if they have anyone smart enough to crack it."

"Not likely," Nikola scoffed once more.

"I'll make it very worth your while if you get us out of here quickly," Helen said suggestively.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Nikola said, pulling her along. She smirked.

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"We've been down this corridor before," Helen hissed.

"Ssh," Nikola hissed back, "We have not."

"Yes, we have," she said, "Every time we pass a door about ten steps down this hall, I can hear a boiler inside."

"Well it could be a different boiler in the corridor," Nikola said.

"Nikola Tesla, are you lost?" Helen said. There was a pause.

"No," he said. "I'm just... momentarily geographically challenged."

"It is okay to admit to just being lost," she said.

"I'm not lost," he said.

"Nikola we've -," she began, but stopped when she walked into something solid – said solid mass being Nikola himself. "What is it?"

"As I said, we're not lost," Nikola said, "Listen."

Helen listened, and she could hear voices coming from inside a nearby room.

"I don't care!" came the first voice, "I want them found! Get the damn power back on!" It was their captor. Nikola would recognise that voice anywhere.

"I'm sorry sir..." a second more nervous voice said, "We're trying but... he did a pretty good job at making sure the power supply was shut down..."

"You better hope he didn't do that good a job," they heard the man hiss, "Or it'll be your head!"

"We're outside the labs?" Helen whispered, guessing.

"On the up side," Nikola said, "They're pretty close to the entrance, aren't they? That's the way you came in."

"I know the way out from the labs," Helen replied.

Nikola grabbed her hand and they crept through the corridor. Her heart was beating so rapidly. They were so close. She was so close to having Nikola free – after having told him how she felt.

She knew they were in the large open lobby-like front area of the building as they slipped through the door at the end of the hall. Outside light had managed to sneak in through some broken windows. The upside to the interior of the building was its lack of windows; it had worked to their advantage before.

She could see Nikola's grin.

"Not so fast," Helen froze halfway across the room as she heard a gun click. She turned, slowly, Nikola by her side. She felt her heart sink; they'd been so close. "Nice try, I will hand that to you. But you're not going anywhere." He smiled. "We have so much unfinished business together, and we've only just started."

Helen squeezed Nikola's hand as a group of armed men spilled into the room behind the man. She had no idea how they were going to make it out of this one.

**Lol, sorry to be so continually cruel to Helen and Nikola... especially when they got so close... but that just means they'll be really happy to get out eventually, right? **


	14. Chapter 14

**A bit more of an explanation (at least I hope it makes **_**some **_**sense) in this chappie. **

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Well, this wasn't good. Not good at all. On a scale of good to very not good this was definitely under the heading of dire, imminent doom with a sprinkling of foreboding. In summary, they were just a little bit done for.

"That was a nice trick you pulled with the lights," their captor said, "I'll have to remember to be more cautious with you."

"How very thoughtful of you," Nikola said with a half-smirk. The man returned his own smirk. Helen's eyes narrowed as she noticed the cane he was now leaning on. She was sure that neither of them had had the opportunity to injure him.

"This is getting a little old, don't you think?" Nikola snapped. Obviously his brief flirtation with the promise of freedom – albeit within the confines of their captor's warehouse – had only served to provoke his cheeky tongue into action. "This whole psychotic evil villain facade you've got going is a bit out-dated, and, quite frankly, lacking in the necessary originality for true intimidation."

Helen looked over at him with an expression of incredulity on her face. Though, she couldn't fully suppress the slight smirk that was warring for dominance.

"Really, Nikola? Is now the most prudent time to bring that up?" she said, deciding the best route was to play moderator for the time being. There really was no bounds to Nikola's sauciness and the last thing they needed right now was for him to provoke their captor into doing something even more abhorrent.

The most annoying thing was that she still loved him all the more for his incorrigibility.

"If he's going to slowly torture us until we either die a slow and painful death, or go crazy," Nikola said far too casually for such subject matter, "I thought I'd get it in there."

"If you two are done playing your little games?" their captor said. Nikola was satisfied to see an expression of slight bemusement on the man's face. Finally, he had shown an indication that he was not in complete control.

"How nice of you to ask," Nikola retorted, "But, no, we weren't quite finished. In fact, Helen and I have a lot of unfinished business to tend to, so if you'd kindly leave us for a few minutes we'd be happy to report to your chamber of doom when ready."

Helen stifled the laughter that was welling up. How could she be so amused at a time like this? Perhaps the imminent and near inevitable onslaught of pain and/or death made one find amusement where one could. Or maybe she was just getting hysterical.

"Grab them both," the man said, "I grow tired of their games." As amusing as the vampire and the good doctor were for him, he could think of much more interesting ways for them to entertain him.

"It was worth a shot," Nikola shrugged.

"Cheeky," Helen murmured. He smiled sadly.

"Always for you, ljubav," he said.

Several of the men were closing in on them cautiously. They may be surrounded but he was still a vampire, and Helen wasn't exactly docile either.

"Helen," Nikola said, his voice lowering as he transformed slowly into his vampiric form. Helen didn't need to be told twice, and she slowly edged behind the shifting vampire.

It happened so quickly after that. Nikola transformed fully into his vampiric form, claws elongating, and eyes blackening, as the men rushed them. Nikola swiped out his claws slashing two of the men in a practised move. A hail of bullets showered the vampire but he only smirked. It felt good to be near immortal again. It wasn't as though he had missed the actual act of being shot, more the exhilaration garnered from the invincibility of being able to withstand said shots.

A yelp from Helen stopped his angered swiping and he turned to her, his heart seizing in fear at the thought she may have been injured.

Helen looked down at where the dart had hit her and then back up with almost comical timing. Her eyes wide, she swayed where she stood, and then suddenly fell. He caught her in his arms instinctively, drawing her close to his body in a protective move. He hoped like hell it had only been a tranq, though considering that now they had almost no chance of getting out of there, inevitably much worse was to come.

In his moment of distraction worrying over the unconscious Helen in his arms, he was spraying with several darts himself. Cursing silently as he felt the effects of the tranquilisers taking over, his last conscious thought was to make sure he didn't hurt Helen as he crumpled to the ground.

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Nikola opened his eyes groggily. He was disoriented for several moments before, in a rather déjà vu like moment, realising he was in the warehouse lab strapped down to a chair.

Concern suddenly hit him as he remembered that this time Helen had been with him. It was enough to speed along the after-effects of the tranquilisers as he frantically strained his neck in its constricted movement to look for Helen.

He didn't have to search long. She was tied down to a chair beside him.

"Helen," he called out without thinking.

"Nikola," she responded, sounding as groggy as he had felt moments ago.

It was a small comfort to know she was alright for now at least.

Helen was struggling with her bonds, squirming and twisting where she lay. He watched transfixed by the lithe movements her body made before realising he should probably be spending less time ogling her and more time figuring out how to save her. She was such an appealing distraction though.

"Nice of you to join us again," the now too familiar voice of their captor said.

Nikola forced himself to drag his eyes away from Helen and to the man. When had he started using a cane?

"Yes, we just missed you so much," Nikola said with an eye-roll.

"You're hurt," Helen observed. Nikola was about to comment on the fact that the health of their tormentor was really nothing to get too torn up about when the man laughed.

"How good of you to notice, Dr," he said. "For all your supposed brilliance, she's miles ahead of you, Mr Tesla."

Nikola looked to Helen in confusion.

"I should have known," Helen cursed softly.

"You were a bit distracted by your concern for your pet vampire," the man said, sitting on a lab stool with a wince. Nikola eyed the lab techs milling about behind him at the benches. "Which seems to have become quite the pattern for you, dear Helen."

"Care to share?" Nikola remarked.

"The Source Blood, my blood," Helen said, in that tone that meant she was piecing something big together, "I should have realised sooner. How could I have thought you'd have been unaffected by it?"

"How indeed," the man remarked. "You see, my dear doctor, not only did your tainted blood cause me significant pain upon injection – it also persisted. My transformation was not quite so _elegant _as yours."

"Because of the toxin," Helen said.

"It somehow affected whatever transformation or change was supposed to take place," he said, his face darkening.

"You're degenerating," Helen said, eyeing the cane.

"I am not so much blessed with longevity as... persistence," he smirked wryly.

"The Ouroboros," Helen said, "It's more than just a symbol."

"Every time I die," the man hissed, "the tainted blood which pulses through my veins takes hold. It keeps me alive. But each time it tears another part of my away. I am no more than a quivering pathetic shell each time I am reborn." He spat. "Barely conscious through the blinding pain..."

He winched as he shifted on the chair.

"It has begun anew," he said, "Each time there is less and less time between."

"But how did it begin?" Helen said. Her morbid curiosity spurring her on.

"After I injected myself with your blood," he said, "I became a monster. A half-transformed man; my body neither fully human nor truly abnormal."

"Your body could not sustain itself for too long, because it did not complete the original transformation," Helen theorized.

"Spot on, doctor," he said with a twisted smile. "Yet, it does not seem to let me die either. So I am trapped. Each time my body fails, yet still clinging on thanks to your blood, I am driven closer to madness. I can feel it."

"Okay, but _what _are you?" Nikola said.

"A mistake," the man said darkly.

He unbuttoned his shirt and the pair of restrained scientists watched transfixed. His skin was red, barely skin at all, looking more like muscle twisted over his ribs with patches of rough tan coloured lumps interspersed with similar coloured patches. Nikola couldn't tell whether they were supposed to be scales, or simply so rough and raw that they appeared so. His heart thumped grotesquely against his chest, almost visible, and rearing to break free of its mutated confines.

Nikola looked over to Helen and her eyes were glued to the man's mutated torso. He knew she felt guilty, felt responsible, for this.

But Nikola had to wonder what had happened. Even with the Source Blood, and Helen's toxin, this was very unlikely. Not that they really had much knowledge on the power of the Source Blood. They only had five examples of human affliction – six now. It could be that the five of them had been the anomaly. Whatever had happened here, though, it was evident something had gone wrong. Nikola just wasn't convinced it was due to Helen's tampering with her blood or the blood itself. They didn't know how humans would react to taking her blood. John himself had only taken Helen's blood after already introducing Source Blood into his, not that he was a good example to begin with.

"I can help you," Helen said, her voice soft and hoarse, "Please, let me help you."

She wanted to rectify this – _needed _to rectify it.

The man smirked.

"Oh, I doubt very much that anyone can help me now," he said, "But I am going to make you suffer for what I have gone through for the past hundred years."

**Not sure if that made sense. Basically, our evil dude injected himself with Helen's blood post-Source Blood with the toxin. It did not however transform him like the Five, but had an adverse affect. So he's pretty much a mutation, but kept alive by Helen's longevity. The effects and power of the Source Blood are still pretty unknown – I mean the Five had no **_**real **_**concrete idea what would happen to them... they could have well died or become affected in other ways. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey kiddies, sorry I haven't updated this in so long, but as I said in my other story real life beckons. *sigh* **

**But seriously SEASON FOUR! *does a little jig* It's here baby! **

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Nikola watched in horror as their captor ambled torturously slowly over to one of the work benches to prepare a syringe. His heart was beating so hard against his poor ribcage that he was beginning to theorize about the possibilities of said muscle exploding forth, it was a scenario he concluded even a vampire couldn't survive. It wasn't fear for himself that was causing such a physical response – Nikola would never admit to such fear – but rather a fear for the woman who had stolen that very same rapidly pounding muscle many years ago. Though, he was grateful she'd never make a claim on her undeniable possession of his heart, he was quite happy for it to remain in its current residence. Not that he wouldn't sacrifice himself for Helen if she asked, incidentally in a beat of his heart, but he was digressing now.

It was like a scene from a golden age Hollywood horror film – not that over-the-top crap they came up with nowadays with their convoluted plots and complex twists. No, the good old days of monster and maiden, and a dashing hero thrown in for good measure. Once again he found himself digressing and urged his mind to focus. He could almost hear Helen saying those words in his mind right now. He cast a glance over at her, and briefly wondered if they'd formed some sort of telepathic connection, because her expression seemed to be saying exactly what he'd thought.

But it wasn't fear he saw in her eyes. Well, he did see fear, but that wasn't what he noticed. It was guilt.

He could have yelled at her to not be so bloody (and there she was rubbing off on him in his own mind) compassionate for once in her life and worry about herself. But he should have known she would be eaten up by the guilt of what had happened to their not-so charming captor. Regardless of whether it was truly her fault or not, Helen Magnus would feel a sense of personal responsibility to the psychotic man. She would never cease to amaze him. But, then again, she'd simply say that it was 'sanctuary for all' and not just for convenience. He was beginning to channel Helen in his mind at an alarming rate. Not that he minded her there, she could be found as a frequent topic on his mind more often than not after all.

A ripple of terror shot through his body as their captor turned back, syringe in hand, and that grating maniacal grin fixed on his face. Nikola prayed that he would inject him with the agonizing substance. He was sure that it would be far more painful than any drug to see Helen go through such pain and not be able to do anything to help her. But perhaps it was because of this their captor chose to walk towards her instead of Nikola this time.

Nikola heard her hitch in breath as the man approach and rolled up the sleeve of her top to expose her inner elbow.

"No," Nikola croaked. He hadn't even realised he'd said it until both their eyes snapped over to him. Their captor smiled and Helen offered him a look of sympathetic understanding.

"I'm going to enjoy this," the man said, grinning cruelly. "You don't know how long I've waited for this moment."

He stroked a finger lightly over the exposed flesh of Helen's arm and she shivered at the contact. He was relishing ever moment of his sweet revenge. Helen wanted desperately to pull away but her bonds prevented her from doing so.

Nikola struggled in his bonds quietly with desperation fuelling him. It was only in that moment that he realised he could feel the bonds loosening. He steeled his face to hide the instant shock as he felt himself slowly wriggling free of his constraints. It seemed that his captor, in his eagerness, had not secured the binds as tightly as before. Or perhaps Nikola's renewed strength from drinking Helen's blood was helping. He hadn't drunk human blood in a long time and it did wonders for him.

He waited until the man was about ready to use the syringe so as to make sure he would get a good attack. Then he struck.

Nikola launched himself from his chair and barrelling into their captor with his unnatural strength. The man tumbled to the floor and his cane cluttered loudly beside him. Nikola sprung up first, immediately rushing to Helen to release her. He could hear the blood pumping through her body as her heart raced. It was so tantalising but he knew he had to remain focused.

"Nikola..." he briefly registered her uttering his name in confusion.

He didn't have time to pause so he grabbed her wrist and all but dragged her half way across the room as several of their captor's henchmen were on them.

Nikola let go of Helen's arm to allow himself to 'vamp-out' as her children so articulately put it. It felt good and he was ready for blood – anyone who dared threaten Helen had better he prepared for his wrath.

Nikola launched himself at the first henchman, disarming him easily, and pushing him against a gurney with considerable force. He then turned to the second, a gleam in his blackened eyes. The man looked fearful for a second but stood his ground, walking towards Nikola with his gun held up. The man fired several rounds which landed found their target in Nikola's chest. He looked down at the pin-pricks and then back up to the man with a twisted grin. He reached out a clawed hand and swiped the gun clean from the man's hands before swiping once more. The man yelped and fell to the ground.

It was only Helen's cry that tore him from his relish in fighting the men, and he turned to see a sight that made his heart skip a beat.

Helen was hunched on the floor a few paces behind him beside their captor and another man who was holding her. He knew that men like that were no match for Helen Magnus, but he should have taken into account her weakened state after he'd drunk from her. He cursed himself inwardly. Of course she would never mention it or complain, that was who she was, but he should have thought of it.

Nikola let out a deep growl and tore across the room in quick paces removing the man over Helen with a simple movement of his claws. He then slashed at their captor in anger. His claws caught the man's chest and he fell backwards. He scrambled back until his back hit the cabinets against the wall. Blood dripping from the man's mouth which was still twisted in a sick smile. He let out a croaky cackle, cut off with a coughing fit, and Nikola grabbed him by the throat, pulling his body up in the air.

"You're too late," the man wheezed with a grin.

Nikola's eyes flickered back to his steely blue as he heard a little cry of pain from Helen. He dropped the man, who then slumped to the floor, and rushed over to Helen.

She lay on the ground in the centre of the lab with her chest rising and falling laboriously. He pulled her into his arms and cradled her head as she whimpered, the drugs that now streamed through her veins having an effect on her. Nikola saw the shattered syringe laying a few feet away. Her hand found his and she clung to it desperately, her eyes no longer seeing.

"Nikola," she said. But her voice was strained.

"You're...too...late," Nikola's eyes snapped back to their captor who was using his hands to pull his bloodied body across the floor.

"She may be in pain," Nikola said staunchly, clenching his jaw as Helen writhed in his arms, "But she'll get through it. You, on the other hand..."

The man laughed, well, as close to a laugh as he could in his state.

"I gave her...the...rest," he heaved out. His eyes flickered darkly in joy. It took Nikola a few seconds to realise what he meant as his eyes flickered back to the syringe. "She won't survive it..."

The man had given her too much, much more than Nikola had been injected with. Nikola looked back at the woman clutched in his hold, terrified that he would never get the chance to show her how much she meant to him.


	16. Chapter 16

It was as though everything was crawling by with such painful slowness he could feel every agonizing moment, and each and every moment was one moment too many. Yet, oddly it also felt as if it were all moving too fast. He wanted to reach out and grab something to hold onto to stop time from moving, from letting the moments slip away. Because with every painful moment Nikola could feel Helen slipping away from him with every strained breath and he felt helpless to help her. He couldn't think. His mind was frozen. He had to stop the poison, but all he could do was look down helplessly as she slipped further and further away.

This must have been what Helen had felt less than a week ago – though it seemed more like a life-time – before he'd been re-vamped, trapped in a cave with a whole piercing his body. It had been dire, just as this was. But this time there were no crystallised and remarkably preserved vampire queens hell-bent on world domination. There was no cure. The deed was done. She'd already been injected with the toxin that was now coursing with cruel speed through her body.

With each cry, which had now turned more to whimpers, he felt his entire body quiver. Pain he could deal with, his own pain he could deal with, but hers? He'd never been more terrified in his entire existence than he was now, facing the possibility of losing the only person who had ever really held his heart.

Nikola thought the world must have a terrible sense of humour indeed. Or perhaps he'd done something particularly offensive – that did sound like him after all. Just when the woman he'd pined over for a more than a century had told him she loved him (and not in a drug or alcohol induced haze) she was being taken away. It was as though she were being punished for daring to love him, for daring to make him happier than he'd ever felt. For making his world so perfect for even a fraction of time.

Now, he cursed his recent re-vamping and this immortality. How could he possibly go on living without Helen? She'd always been the anchor keeping him moored to any form of reality, to the world, even if he weren't near her at the time. But now? He knew he was being rather selfish right now, but all he had ever wanted was to be loved. To be loved by her.

He couldn't let her die, he just couldn't. She didn't deserve this. She deserved so much more, she always had. She was so fervent in her compassion to all creatures, to the beings who dwelled in the shadows, ignored and subjugated by society. She'd dedicated her life to helping others and now she finally had found happiness, it could be taken away. Now that she had to chance to be happy like she sought to do for others, she was dying. Nikola had never hated the world more than in that moment.

It was perfection in its barest, most tragic and poetic form, and it was the thing that had always terrified him the most. It was a perfect tragedy. They'd spent over a hundred years dancing around each other and hiding from their feelings, sometimes wondering if they were one-sided, always questioning it, always wondering if they would ever be reciprocated. Then they'd finally told each other how they felt and it would be ripped apart.

"Ni...ko," she managed to say. He was sure she'd been mumbling his name a lot before but her voice had never had the strength to really articulate it.

"Ssh, save your strength, ljubav," Nikola said, his own voice wavered as he spoke to the woman cradled in his arms.

"For...what?" she said.

She'd said it with such raw and honest acceptance of her death that his heart broke all over again. He was sure it would break a thousand more times as he watched the woman who had always owned it continued to suffer and a thousand more after that when she was gone. She knew she was dying and she accepted it. Something about the way she'd said it shifted something within him. He couldn't let her give up, lay down and accept death, not her of all people.

"No," he verbalised his renewed invigoration firmly.

"Nikola," she said. He marvelled at how, even now, she managed to speak with that tone of exasperation she reserved seeming only for him. "You're going to...have t-t..to find...another date... to the...to the prom."

Like hell he was. He wasn't going to let her use his own dying words against him. Nikola Tesla would never go to any damn 'prom' with anyone but Helen Magnus. He was going to make damn sure that she lived so he could show her that.

"To hell I am," he said, "Get your crimson dress ready, ljubav, we're going to the prom."

He could have sworn he saw a flicker of a wistful smile cross over her face before another wave of pain rippled through her rapidly weakening body.

Nikola bounded over to their captor, now laying in a bloodied heap a few feet away, and grabbed him by his collar. He briefly registered Helen's call for him but he wasn't going to let her say her goodbyes yet.

"Where's the antidote?" Nikola growled darkly. His black eyes flickered hellishly.

"None," the man gasped with a cruel grin.

"There must be one," Nikola said, anything else was not acceptable to him. "You made this damned drug now tell me how to stop it!" He roared the last part.

The man just laughed, though it sounded more like a wheeze, before his eyes rolled back into his head and his mangled chest ceased its movements. Nikola let out a pained yowl and shook the man, as though that would keep him alive, before dropping him to the ground once more in a fit of rage.

"Useless, pathetic bastard!" he growled, wanting to do nothing more than to rip the man apart limb from limb.

He rushed over to the computers on some of the side benches and started typing furiously. He could hack into their systems easily and search for information on the drug. The man had been telling the truth, there was no antidote on the systems. What idiot created such a potent drug without a cure? He had to stay calm. He had to think. If he could just calm down so he could let himself think then he could do this.

He could save her. He would save her. He had to keep telling himself that. He wouldn't let her die he just wouldn't. If he couldn't save her with all of his brilliance then what was the point of it all?

He heard shouting in the distance and gun-shots that broke him from his thoughts. Another concerning loud moan from Helen shook him again and he rushed back over to her, lifting her up with ease into his arms. She curled instinctively – she was too far gone in a haze of pain to really do anything consciously right now – into his chest. It seemed to comfort her, even if only a little, he was glad he could provide at least that.

He was standing by the door with Helen in his arms ready for whoever was about to enter, prepared to rip them apart if he had to.

He'd never been more relieved to see Helen's rag-tag team of children.

"What the hell happened?" Will said, surveying the messy lab and bodies, and then finally the vampire holding their woozy looking boss in his arms.


	17. Chapter 17

**Second update. :) This was supposed to go with the previous chapter, but then I decided to add another half, so I posted it as two. **

**A bit of subtle Henry/Kate later on, nothing too overwhelming – this is all about Helen and Nikola after all. :P **

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"_What the hell happened?"_

Or perhaps Nikola wasn't as pleased as he thought he initially had been to see the children.

"Oh, yes, Huggybear," Nikola spat, "Why don't we all sit down and have a civil discussion over tea as to what occurred in this room. Don't mind Helen, she's just dying."

"Dying, whoa dude, who's dying?" Henry said, appearing behind Will in the doorway.

Nikola could have hit his head against a brick wall for all the good the children were doing right now. He didn't have time to explain everything to them right now, did they not see that?

"Here's what we're going to do," Nikola said, with condescending slowness. But he quickened his pace when Helen muttered what he swore, amusingly, was a 'make them go away'. He could have chuckled had the situation not been so dire. He wondered if that was what it would be life to wake up by her side. He had to focus though, he couldn't let his mind wander, he had to make sure they had that future together.

"I assume you came in some form of vehicular transport?" he said, not waiting for them to respond, "We're taking Helen back to the Sanctuary with the computer records I transferred to our records moments ago."

The 'how' on Henry's lips died when Nikola gave him a look. It usually would have been a smug smirk, but he was much too worried about Helen right now.

Will obviously so desperately wanted to argue, to find out what had happened here, but he took one look at his boss and the grim expression on Tesla's face and nodded.

"Go," he said, knowing helping Magnus was much more important than his dislike for her pesky companion, "Take Henry, Kate and I will clean up here."

If Nikola had needed Huggybear's permission, he would have been out of the door before the man had even finished his statement. But, as it happened, he didn't need it, and so he was half way out the door before he'd even started his statement.

Henry trailed after him with uncharacteristic silence. His eyes were transfixed on Helen with fear. Nikola had always known that Wolf-boy followed Helen around with ironic puppy-like devotion, but he'd never really thought too much about how close they might be. She had all-but raised the boy after all. Why was he becoming so damn sentimental? He chalked it all up to the woman in his arms, and knew that once he'd made her well again, sentimentality for her children would be gone. Not for her though, hell he was going to lock her in her room and cling onto her and never let her go.

They got to the van swiftly, Nikola barely noting several slumped bodies dressed in black along the way. Obviously the children were more effective than he gave them credit for.

Henry was blessedly quiet as he slipped into the driver's seat, revving up the engine and starting the van almost as soon as Nikola had climbed into the back with Helen. He closed the door and laid her down on one of the long seats.

He wasn't sure whether to be concerned or relieved that she was thrashing much less than before and yelping in pain much less. Her cries were coming out in soft whimpers or moans, with the occasional hoarse word that he could barely make out even with his vampiric hearing. He caught his name, or variations of it, every so often.

Nikola stood watching her for a moment. She looked so pale, too pale. She was closer to death than he would ever be comfortable with her being.

A single tear slithered down Nikola's cheek, weaving its way treacherously to his chin, and then shedding the confines of his being to dive downwards. He never cried. He hadn't even noticed until he'd felt the wet tear on his face. He'd thought it was blood at first. The first tear was followed by another, and soon he was crying. Nikola Tesla was crying.

"Please," he said, grasping Helen's too-cold hand, "Please...don't die."

His voice was hoarse and his eyes still glistening with sadness. Her eyes were closed and she gave no indication she had – or could – hear him, or would adhere to his wish.

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Henry drove faster than he'd ever dared push his precious van before. If they got tagged by the cops, he was sure he'd just continue speeding away. This was Magnus. Magnus didn't die, she didn't get hurt, she was Magnus. She was so close to invincible in his eyes.

He didn't dare even slow down to look back and check on them, for fear of not reaching the Sanctuary in time, for fear that she was already too far gone for them to save her. Henry had seen the devastation reflected in Tesla's eyes, and the lack of sarcastic abuse also indicated how grave Helen's situation was. He just hoped the cocky vampire had the ability to save her somewhere in that brilliant mind of his.

He would put up with Tesla's smugness about coming up with some miracle concoction to save her a thousand times over if it meant she would be okay.

He pulled into the drive at the back of the Sanctuary after a record-breaking trip. He was about to call out to Tesla when he heard an odd noise. He looked in the rear-view mirror to see something that shocked him so thoroughly he barely believed his own eyes.

Tesla was crying. There were real tears coming from his eyes.

Henry felt a desolate sadness creep into him and settle in his heart. He'd always suspected – though other people may not give him credit for being as astute – about the relationship that existed between Magnus and Tesla. He'd known her for a lot longer than the others after all, and had seen her in much more vulnerable, and too much more real, situations. She couldn't hide her feelings as well from him as she could the others, no matter how she tried. He also recognised it in the way Tesla looked at her, the way his eyes lit up when she entered a room, or the way he constantly tried to impress her with his brilliant contraptions. He knew it because he was somewhat guilty of it himself with someone else, not that he'd ever admit it.

But his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the raw emotion coming from Tesla as he sat beside Magnus. He felt less resistant to whatever had developed between them now, he could see how much the vampire cared about her. Besides, Henry supposed it could be worse, it could be bald and creepy after all.


	18. Chapter 18

Nikola jumped out of the van, Helen in his arms, and into the Sanctuary. He'd never been so grateful before of his vampiric strength. He rushed by the hairy one, who grunted at him in a mixture of curiousness, concern and anger as he saw his dear friend in the vampire's arms. But Nikola didn't have time to worry about upsetting the hairy butler, he had more pressing matters, such as saving Helen. Let the butler slap him all he liked once Helen was well.

"What are going to do?" Henry asked, upon reaching the med-level behind Nikola. "You can save her, right?" Nikola didn't respond.

"What did you do to her?" Big Guy growled. He'd entered the lab where Nikola was laying Helen down on a gurney with what Nikola assumed was a disapproving look.

"It wasn't him," Henry said, then a look flashed over his features, "Was it?"

"Of course I didn't do this to her!" Nikola snapped, "Now will you two kindly cease your rambling so I can actually concentrate on helping her?"

The Big Guy grunted but relented.

"What do you need?" he said. His reluctance to aid the vampire was overridden by his need to help the woman who had been his dear friend for many years.

"I need for you two to do as I say," Nikola commanded, gravely.

"Okay, sure, whatever to save the Doc," Henry agreed quickly. Nikola looked at both of them briefly.

"We're going to kill Helen," he said.

The Big Guy let out a furious growl and made his way menacingly to where Nikola stood.

"No...no way," Henry said, "Kill the Doc?" His voice seemed high pitched even to him.

They'd died before, all of them down in Praxis, and Will had alluded to something going down a few years back when they'd been trapped in the sub but it didn't make it any less scary.

"You're going to have to trust me," Nikola said, "This is the only way to save her. I don't have time to explain why."

"Trust you?" the Big Guy grunted.

"Do you have any other options?" Nikola bit back.

A few minutes later, Nikola stood over Helen. The furry carpet she called a butler and her pet were-wolf were on either side of her gurney. Nikola had her hand grasped in his own – every time he tried to move away she'd call out for him. He was almost sure she was unconscious but she still seemed to be able to tell when he wasn't near.

The Big Guy had set up an IV line as Henry had fetched the necessary drug that would stop her heart. He held the syringe in his hand, not even caring that it was shaking in front of Wolf-Boy and the butler.

He knew he wasn't truly ending her life. He planned to bring her back after all. But there was always the chance that she wouldn't come back. He was still killing her. He was so terrified, that she wouldn't ever wake up, that she would die by his hand.

He took a sharp breath and plunged the syringe into the IV line.

"Forgive me, Helen," he muttered.

The heart-monitor that they'd hooked her up to became erratic. Standing by as it beeped frantically was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. But his eyes were glued to her face, as if nothing else in the world existed, as the machine flat-lined.

The Big Guy let out a low growling noise and Henry stared at her helplessly, as though willing her back to life.

She was dead. Helen Magnus was technically dead.

Henry's eyes shifted to Tesla. He was going to bring her back, right?

"What are you doing?" Henry said.

"Wait," Nikola hissed. They had to give her enough time or else it would have been for nothing.

A few more long moments went by, and the Big Guy growled at Nikola once again. He went to the defibrillator and picked up the paddles.

"Not yet," Nikola said.

His eyes were still on her face, lifeless, still. He was sure it was an image that would be in his mind for the rest of his existence. The sight of her lying there lifeless would haunt him.

"Now," Big Guy said. It wasn't a question. Nikola grabbed the paddles from him and Big Guy charged them. It took four tries before the heart-monitor started again with a steady rhythm. Nikola's heart only went back to normal when hers did.

"Is she...?" Henry said.

"She's alive," the Big Guy grunted.

Nikola ignored them, his attention focused on Helen. She was alive again, which was a definite good sign, and she wasn't twitching or moaning or writhing in pain. That was another good sign. Her face was more peaceful than before.

"Ni...Niko...?" she said, her eyes opening a few minutes later. None of them had moved. They'd all been standing frozen to the spot as they waited with baited breath for her to wake up.

"Helen," he said quickly. Her hand shot up weakly and he grabbed it. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I could chase down a brood of Nubbins," she said, obviously confused. "But...?"

"It's alright," Nikola said, "You're fine now."

"We're at the Sanctuary," she said, looking around. She sat up with his help.

"As much as I'd love to claim full credit," Nikola said, "Your children proved mighty useful in finally getting out of that place."

Helen's eyes found Henry and she smiled thankfully.

"Hey Doc, you gave us quite a scare," Henry said, meekly.

"I'm sorry for scaring you like that, Henry," she soothed.

"Oh, sorry for scaring the wolf-boy," Nikola said.

"So you admit to being scared for me, then?" Helen's lips quirked upwards.

"Of course not, I knew my genius would save you in the end," Nikola joked. But their eyes met and his look conveyed what he couldn't admit to in front of the other two. Helen smiled softly in understanding and squeezed his hand.

"Speaking of genius saving the Doc..." Henry said, "How exactly did that...happen?"

"Nikola had to kill me to purge the poison," Helen realised.

"I knew there was I reason I liked you best," Nikola said. "You see, Tiny Tim, the toxin that the crazy man who was holding us developed was a derivation from Helen's own blood."

"My blood, and a poison I'd laced in it," Helen added. "It's a long story." She added upon seeing Henry's confused expression.

"Because of this Helen's body couldn't fight it off," Nikola said, "It was confused. But what I found out from the computer records of our favourite mad-man is that he developed the toxin in a way so that it was almost an organism in itself, a virus if you will. What activated it is a recognition, recognition of its own properties. It would only activate when it comes into contact with traces of the Source Blood, which is why it worked on my too. There is no cure, but -,"

"It needs the Source Blood to remain active," Helen said, realising it.

"Positively parasitic, I know," Nikola said. "Once I," his eyes met hers sadly, "killed Helen and her heart was no longer pumping." He willed himself to keep talking despite the pain at having to speak those words, "The virus could no longer sense the Source Blood and so it disintegrated."

"But how could you be sure it would work?" Henry said.

Helen looked over at Nikola and the pained expression he wore.

"He couldn't be," she said, sadly.


	19. Chapter 19

**Yay, new chappie... because Monsoon has just come out. *off to watch now* This is technically the last chapter of this story. But, I may do an epilogue if you guys want it (you know, for some fluffiness because this one is still rather angsty). I felt it better to end on an angst-y note because this story was always supposed to be of that genre. That being said, fluff filled epilogue may be forthcoming... :) **

**Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing. You guys really make my day whenever I read them. :) Seriously, you guys are awesome. So very awesome. If my virtual Tesla-cookies were any match for chartreuseian's Tesla-stache cookies I'd give you some. Hell, have some anyway! :P **

**Enough of my sappiness and more of the Teslen sappiness... **

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Helen sat in her office revelling in the feeling of drowning herself in the masses of paperwork that demanded her attention. She'd been away from it for far too long. She knew it wasn't the healthiest thing, but there could be much worse addictions than the need to do paperwork. It had just become so much of a habit for her, a static thing in her life, and it soothed her. The often mindless work calmed her when she needed it and allowed her idle hands something to do as she pondered.

She'd been cooped up in the infirmary for the past few days. It had been on Nikola's – and much to her chagrin – Will's insistence. She'd been sorely tempted to ignore both of their wishes and walk out. Will was her employee, and Nikola... well, Nikola would forgive her anything as long as she wasn't wearing too many cumbersome items of clothing.

It had only been a gruff grunt and pointed look from her dear old friend and manservant that had convinced her to stay put. When he was displeased, it was often a better outcome just to placate him than to really argue. He could be very persistent in his own subtle – and then sometimes not very subtle at all – ways. He'd once withheld bringing Helen her favourite tea for four whole days until she had acquiesced to his wishes.

As much as she liked her own independence and refused to take orders from anyone – who could match a woman of over a hundred years worth of experience? She abjectly refused to go on without her tea. That was her breaking point.

She'd been disappointed when Nikola had offered a poorly thought up excuse, one that had ended up trailing off into a mumble, and slipped away from her bedside after he was sure she would be alright. Had it all just been a game to him? Had she been right the first time, after his re-vamping, when she'd pushed him away?

She hated that these doubts still plagued her, swirling about in her mind like a ruthless mist set on tearing apart her burgeoning relationship with Nikola. God, she wanted to scream sometimes. She'd spent a hundred years closing herself off to the world. She'd had to. She had taught herself, if somewhat subconsciously, not to let anyone in because, in the end, it _would _end. Even if they didn't want to leave her, they had to. Everyone she had loved she had also seen die. Nikola, too, was closed off for similar reasons. She suspected too that she was part of those reasons. So she'd learnt not to grow too close. It was hard to break such habits.

But she'd told him how she felt – showed him – when they'd been in the clutches of their maddened villain. There was no turning back now.

Because no matter how many doubts still lingered in her mind and over her guarded heart, she loved him more than she could have ever imagined she was capable. And she was still terrified of it.

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Nikola was standing on the roof when she found him at last. She had finally decided that they had both been acting like scared children for long enough. The only thing that scared her more than him rejecting her (even though the logical part of her mind screamed that she was a fool and he never would) was never knowing.

"I'm beginning to see why you so adore coming out here, ljubav," Nikola said, not turning to look at her.

"It was one of the things about this place that I fell in love with first," Helen offered, coming to stand beside the recently re-vamped vampire.

"You always did love looking at the stars," Nikola said. "The endless possibilities that they represent..."

"A whole world, a whole universe, of wonders," she sighed.

It had been an escape when she'd felt so trapped in her own small world back in London, in England, when she'd been young. Sometimes she had felt so stifled, so suffocated, by the narrow minded views of her male peers about her. She'd felt like there was a world out there that she wasn't a part of. Of course, that had all changed when her father had let her in to the wonders of his world. The world she had embraced with open arms and an equally open mind, and she had never looked back since.

"Why can't we just be those two young wide-eyed idiots again?" Nikola said. Helen's lips twitched upwards at that.

"You're in a particularly nostalgic mood tonight, aren't you?" she said.

"I loved you even then, Helen," he said, ignoring her attempt to lighten the mood. He looked over at her then, his eyes begging her to understand. He needed her to understand.

She held his gaze for as long as she dared before her heart felt too overwhelmed to cope with his love, his pain. They flickered to the stone battlement in front of her.

He had loved her for so long from a distance. If he had only said something. If he had only let her know.

"I think... I loved you too," she said. Helen braved looking at him. "I just didn't know it until recently."

"What's a hundred years or so between good friends?" he said, with a small smile. She laughed.

It was so absurd. To be standing here with him, to hear him confess his love for her after all this time. In a good way, though. She never would have imagined this is where they would be a hundred years ago.

"Oh, barely any time at all," she smiled.

She reached out the short distance to grab his hand, breaking down the last barrier between them. They stood there side-by-side, as they had always been, on the roof-top gazing out at the stars that had captured both their hearts, and minds, so many years ago. But this time they had also captured each other's hearts, and they had finally had the courage to tell each other.


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